A6 Centre Daily Times, Friday, September 11, 2015

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OPINION

S I N C E 1 8 9 8
Debra Leithauser
President/Publisher
dleithauser@centredaily.com

John Boogert
Executive Editor
jboogert@centredaily.com

Members of the editorial board are responsible for the editorial content of this page

THEIR VIEW

Iran deal
delay is
pointless
The bruising battle over the Iran
nuclear agreement should be over, now
that 42 Democratic senators declared
their support for the deal and made it
clearer than ever that efforts to kill it
will fail. But the Republican-led Congress seems determined to drag out the
fight, even if it means neglecting other
business, including legislation to fund
the government.
Of course, the Republicans dont
much care about governing or putting
in place the protections needed to make
sure the nuclear agreement, reached in
July between Iran and six major powers, is carefully and strongly enforced.
This would include providing full funding for the International Atomic Energy
Agency, which will play a crucial role in
inspecting and monitoring compliance
with the pact.
Instead, the Republicans, who unanimously oppose the agreement, on
Wednesday signaled their intent to keep
fighting, at least until Sept. 17, the deadline for action set by Congress when it
passed legislation in May giving it a say
in approving or disapproving the accord. If lawmakers do nothing by next
Thursday, the deal goes into effect.
The debate has been vitriolic and
raw, with opponents waging a multimillion-dollar campaign that relied heavily
on distortions and made supporters of
the strong and worthy deal out to be
anti-Israel or worse.
Now, with 42 Democratic senators
declaring their support for the accord,
there is no way for the opponents to
muster 60 votes to defeat a Democratic
filibuster against the resolution of disapproval, should it come to that.
On Wednesday, the House postponed
its debate on the accord after some
Republicans revolted, arguing the
White House had not disclosed secret
side agreements between Iran and the
international nuclear agency, which
have to do with questions about past
Iranian nuclear research at a military
facility called Parchin. Activities at the
Parchin facility ended years ago; lawmakers have been briefed on the details
but are not allowed to see documents
related to this issue, which are confidential between Iran and the nuclear agency.
House Republicans might be considering some legal tactic to hold the
administration in violation of the law
that set out procedures for voting on
the nuclear deal. That may endear them
to opponents of the deal, including
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of
Israel, and the American-Israel Public
Affairs Committee, who invested considerable political capital in trying to kill
it. But there seems no way that a delay
in congressional action will change the
result: the agreement will take effect.
As with any agreement, there will be
pitfalls ahead. Iran may try to cheat.
Congressional opponents undoubtedly
will try to devise schemes that could
sabotage the deal by indirect means,
including by voting new sanctions to
replace the ones the agreement would
lift.
Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, who allowed the deal to go
forward, on Wednesday gave its opponents more ammunition in remarks
on his website and in posts on Twitter,
he predicted Israel will not exist in 25
years and ruled out new negotiations
with the United States, the Satan. His
contempt is well known, but it should
not drive an analysis of whether the
multinational pact that constrains Irans
nuclear activity improves regional security, which it does.
Making sure the agreement is stringently enforced will be the responsibility of Obama, but the future is in the
hands of his successor. Some of the
Republican presidential contenders
were outside the Capitol on Wednesday
at an anti-accord rally, offering bogus
denunciations of the deal.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic
front-runner, delivered a detailed
speech outlining her distrust and
verify approach for implementing the
deal, which she supports. And she
called for a broader strategy that includes plans for a stepped-up effort to
contain Irans military activity and increased military support for Israel. That
is the responsible way forward.
The above editorial appeared in the
New York Times.

Get the story straight on Davis

By Jay Ambrose
Tribune News Service

Those heaping abuse on her

need to get their story right
about Kim Davis, the Kentucky
county clerk who should have
behaved differently in some
ways but has never discriminated against homosexuals
wanting marriage licenses. She
has not prevented their marriage plans. She has not been a
religious hypocrite.
Whatever her shortcomings,
she has also honestly sought an
answer that would work for
everyone. Shes a country mile
from the scariest example of a
public official failing to carry out
sworn duties. And she has not
threatened basic rights in nearly
as intimidating a fashion as
some progressives across the
plains.
The story starts with the
Supreme Court legalizing gay
marriage. Was it constitutionally
permissible to redefine this
ages-old institution? Some say it
wasnt and that the issue should
have been left to state legislatures marching steadily in that
direction. The decision is nevertheless the law of the land.
While Davis could not have
known for sure it was coming
when elected as county clerk,
she was amiss in refusing marriage licenses to gay couples as
a matter of religious conscience.
Yes, she had the right to heed
her beliefs, but her official duties resided elsewhere and an
answer was to resign. That being said, what she did was not
discriminatory; she also refused
licenses to heterosexual couples.
Her actions did not upend wedding plans; couples could easily
cross county lines to get the
licenses from other clerks. She
had wanted the Kentucky governor to allow county clerk offices
to issue the licenses without the
specific permission of the clerk
herself; he refused, saying it
would require an expensive
special session of the Legisla-

Kevin Siers/Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

ture. So she instead went to jail,

a signal of sincerity, dont you
think?
Some still called her a hypocrite. They said she herself was
guilty of three divorces her faith
surely saw as wrong. What they
did not grasp is that whatever
they identify as wrong, most
Christian churches concur that
sin afflicts their members and
preach redemption for the repentant. What is more, those
divorces preceded her conversion.
The real hypocrisy was a
White House press secretary
denouncing the clerks violation
of rule of law even as the president he represents has repeatedly failed to heed his own vow of
executing laws, most dramatically in the cause of illegal immigration. Barack Obama has
faced no penalties, and while the

illegality of his acts is disputed,

the autocratic drift has been
obvious.
Thats a significant threat to
rule of law, as is the regress of
other progressives to less regard for basic rights. As much
was seen when some members
of the Denver City Council also
weighed in on gay marriage.
Their concern was that the CEO
of Chick-fil-A did not endorse it.
Speaking of this as a major moral concern, they appeared
ready to deny an airport concession to a franchise of the firm.
It had been clear from the
start that the firm did not practice discrimination and national
publicity apparently had a wilting effect on the illicit intentions.
The council is now moving toward granting the concession.
An initial disposition to do otherwise remains an outrage, but

backing up beats moving forward.

The federal judge who jailed
Davis likewise backed up, freeing her with the hope she would
not force his hand again by
intervening with assistants issuing licenses that should in fact
be issued. It is wholly unacceptable at this point to keep marriage licenses from gays, and
she may yet have to consider
giving up her livelihood. It
would help if the Kentucky governor would come around, making it possible for Davis to carry
out the law while heeding her
religious convictions. It would
also help if her critics gave her a
little more credit.
Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service.
He can be reached at at speak
tojay@aol.com.

YOUR LETTERS
Better deal a fantasy

Respect St. Josephs

Twenty-nine leading American

nuclear scientists and arms
control experts recently supported the Iran nuclear deal; as did
three dozen retired American
generals and admirals; as did
former Israeli defense ministers
and the retired chiefs of Israels
intelligence agencies, one saying, When it comes to Irans
nuclear capability, this is the
best option.
The bottomline for Israel is
that it has its own atomic weapons reportedly between 100
and 200 and air power capable of delivering them. Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
would have no qualms about
sprinkling some on Iran if Israels existence was, in fact,
endangered.
Republicans in Congress must
know that it is a fantasy Iran
would agree to a better deal
by, in effect, giving up total sovereignty. Implicitly, their preference is to attack Iran. It would
be a go-it-alone American war. A
couple of surgical strikes with
bunker-buster bombs would do
the trick.
They need a reality check.
As Joe Paterno liked to say,
this opponent is not the Little
Sisters of the Poor. Shiite Iran
has a modern military and
would fight with religious fanaticism, supported by the Iranbacked Shiite militias in Iraq
who are now allied with us
against the Islamic State.
Our volunteer Army would
not have enough men and women to sustain the inevitable
ground wars in both Iraq and
Iran. If Congress prefers endless
wars in the Middle East snake
pit, it should have the courage to
re-start the draft. Everybodys
children would then share the
casualties.

Your coverage of the St. Josephs Catholic Academy football team to say the least, is
inadequate. They may not be the
best team in Centre County, or
even near the top, but the way
they play, given their small
school size, says it all. In every
game they compete until the last
second including overcoming a
31-7 deficit during their most
recent game.
In every game they face a
team that is bigger than them,
with almost always double the
players on their roster. Freshman players at St. Josephs are
being shoved into the lineup due
to a small roster size and facing
players double their size.
What you miss is the heart this
team plays with. On every play,
they give their maximum effort.
There isnt another team in Centre
County, and possibly the state,
where nine players start on both
sides of the football, every game.
Toughness is taught on this team
and they play to their maximum
every game.
Im not asking that you treat this
team like State High or Bellefonte.
Im asking that you respect this
team for what it is, a family. The
bond between these players is
closer than any other team because of the need to rely on each
other. Many teams rely on the
Next Man Up philosophy, but at St.
Josephs, there is no next man up.
This team deserves more than a
four-sentence game preview and
fifth-page game summary. Im
asking that you treat this team the
way it deserves.

John N. Rippey
Zion

Zac Sechler
State College

PSU has no game plan

Lost in a sea of red! The short
and sweet of an agonizing display
of football. Forget the 11 for 25
attempts for a total of 103 yards.

Forget, if you can, the missing

O-line. How about a game plan
from the head coach and his offensive coordinator? The next quarterback savior of the NFL and you
run and run and run the ball! Your
meal ticket to football glory and
you play him with five minutes left
in an unwinnable game after hes
already been pummeled with eight
sacks, only to endure two more.
Coach James Franklin may be
able to recruit some of the best
high school players, but he has
yet to show he can motivate
these players to a winning attitude. He has yet to show he can
handle a piece of chalk and a
blackboard. He now has no
sanction excuses. What he does
have is a bunch of talented players looking totally lost in a game
that should have never been in
question. Hats off to Temple.
You won it fair and square on
the field.
Bob Green
Spring Mills

Coaches need help

I have to ask.
Does Russ Rose know anything about coaching football?
J. Craig Herman
Pahoa, Hawaii

Series was a success

Summer has flown by and the
Summer Friday Evenings on the
Lemont Village Green are all
finished.
The Lemont Village Association
thanks the 13 ensembles who gave
their time and talent and to Mother
Nature who only rained once on a
Friday night all summer. Thanks,
too, to Jim Thorn and Simon Coffin, sound engineers, who made
the music possible with their expertise and equipment. We had
large crowds, children dancing,
picnics and food by the Food for
Thought truck, owned by Mitch
and Sharyn Angle.

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Performers included: The Briggadiers; The Dystractions; The

Carpal Tunnel String Band; Hops
and Vines; Doug Irwin and
Friends; Robin Yukiko; OverheaD;
Ridge and Valley String Band; The
Project John Wise; Tussey
Mountain Moonshiners; Deb
Gilmore; Steve Van Hook; and
Tyne and the Fastlyne, We all
enjoyed the great variety of music
and the enthusiasm of the performers who performed for free.
The Lemont Village Association
will definitely do a series again
next summer. Thank you to all.
Thanks to all the media for
promoting our events; to Sue
Smith who made all the arrangements; James Kalsbeek and Ron
Smith who mowed the grass this
summer; Harry Duckworth,
Charlotte Eubanks and Justin
Agostinelli who did trimming.
Thanks, too, to neighbors who
enjoyed the music.
The LVAs Farmers Market
continues to provide lots of
variety goods from 3-7 p.m. until
Oct. 21. Our last event of the
year will be the German Christmas Market, Dec. 4-5 in the
Granary.
Lemont Village Association Board

Support for Denali

Of course Mt. McKinley
should be renamed Denali (the
Tall One), the beautiful name it
had for centuries before a prospector discovered it and named
it for a presidential candidate he
favored. Sorry, Ohio.
The saddest thing, however,
was reading the comments on
the Internet after President
Barack Obamas action. Only 1
in 10 comments supported the
name Denali; the others were
pure Obama hate, which made
me wonder whether we are back
in the 1960s and in the deep
South.
Gert Aron
Boalsburg

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