To the Editor:
    Regarding the letter from Dave Belton, I would like to illustrate his economy with the truth, replacing principle with political bias.
    Mr. Belton stated, “our President who told adoring masses in the Middle East that whatever we once were, America is no longer a Christian nation.”
    At the Call to Renewals, Building a Covenant for A New America Conference, President Obama said: “Given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation; at least not just; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a                        nation of nonbelievers.” The video is here: http://www.beliefnet.com/Video/News-and-Politics/Obama-Call-to-Renewal/B....
    The conference was hosted in Washington D.C. in June, 2006, by the Sojourners, a Christian Ministry group. The complete speech is here: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/obama-dubois/speech....
    Where did Mr. Belton lose the rest of the words? Did he check down the back of the sofa? Is he aware that Washington D.C. is not in the Middle East?
    Mr. Belton talked about Iran: “I guess that’s why Iran- a country literally swimming on a sea of oil is building something quite extraordinary; nuclear power.”
    He may not know, but oil is a finite resource. Iran will seek to diversify their energy supplies, just like the United States, to become less reliant on oil. Statements that oil in Iran will run out in 80 years were made by Iran’s Energy Minister. The Web page is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5235732.stm Economic geographer Roger Stern, a researcher at John Hopkins University, predicted in a U.S. National Academy of Sciences publication that Iran might run out
of oil for export by 2015. The Web page is here: http://www.geotimes.org/mar07/article.html?id=resources.html.
    Mr. Belton said: “According to our President it’s far too dangerous for the U.S. to build nuclear power plants, but perfectly fine for regime that has repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel off the face of the planet.”
    The energy plan put forward by President Obama confirmed the following: "It is unlikely we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power as an option. However, before an expansion of nuclear power is considered, key issues must be addressed including: security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation.” The Web page is here: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/factsheet_energy_speech_080308.pdf.
    Mr. Belton also states that, “The solution our President tells us is for the U.S. to disarm our missile defense and our own nuclear weapons – the very same arsenal that allowed us to win the cold war without firing a shot.”
    April 5, 2009, in Prague, Czech Republic, President Obama warned that, “if some nations defy orders to get rid of nuclear weapons, America will maintain a safe and secure nuclear capability to deter our adversaries and reassure our allies." The Web page is here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/05/czech.republic.obama/index.ht....
    President Reagan wrote in his memoir, on Page 550, of "An American Life," “My dream then became a world free of nuclear weapons. Because I knew it would be a long and difficult task to rid the world of nuclear weapons, I had this second dream: the creation of a defense against nuclear missiles, so we could change from a policy of assured destruction to one of assured survival." On Page 685, President Reagan talks about the vision both he and President Gorbachev of the Soviet Union had, in 1986 at Reykjavik calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. Only because Reagan failed to give up his “Star Wars Defense Initiative” did the deal collapse.
    Is Mr. Belton stuck in an ‘I love 1986’ rerun? This must be the reason why he did not know what President Obama said in Prague. Or  perhaps he sends truth down the garbage disposal when it doesn’t suit him.
    Mr. Belton states, “In olden days like when our Constitution was written – the motto of the Supreme Court was equal justice under the law. Symbolized by the blindfolded statue of Lady Justice. The idea was that Justice is blind” to ethnicity race gender etc." I am positive Dred Scott and Homer Plessy would disagree with Mr. Belton.
    Mr. Belton quotes Judge Sotomayor’s assertion that, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male.”
    However, he failed to complete Sotomayor’s sentence with the words, “who hasn't lived that life.” Her view is, if you suffered discrimination you would be more aware of it and have a different perspective from those that had not. Why would Mr. Belton choose those words? The quotation and its context can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?pagewant.... To illustrate bi-partisanship with respect to the nomination of Judge Sotomayor I have assembled some words of wisdom from the right as well: Former First Lady Laura Bush, a proud Republican, commented that Sotomayor was, "a very interesting and good nominee." Her video is here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7779432&page=1. President George H. W. Bush commented: “I don’t know her that well but I think she’s had a distinguished record on the bench and she should be entitled to fair hearings.” His video is here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23686.html    Mr. Belton argued, “But clearly, our President’s forte is his understanding of the law.” Clearly a former President and a former First Lady believe in due process regarding the nomination, instead of acting as judge, jury and executioner. I am not sure how many judges Mr. Belton has appointed, but I predict that his figure is less than former President George H.W. Bush.
Mr. Belton asserts that Dr Martin Luther King was a Republican.
    In 1960, Dr. King remained publicly impartial yet in private voiced his support for John F. Kennedy, the Democratic Candidate.
    He voted and campaigned for the Democratic candidate for President, Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964. Webpage is here for Kennedy: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/kingpapers/article/kennedy_john_....
Web page is here for Johnson: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/home/pages?page=http://mlk-kpp01....
How exactly does remaining publicly impartial, yet voicing private support and campaigning for Democratic candidates make Dr. King a Republican?
    Is it because that he was initially registered as a Republican? How many Republicans in office or standing for office were initially registered as Democrats? In the eyes of Mr. Belton they still remain Democrats.
    Mr. Belton talks about Judeo-Christian values. Maybe, Mr. Belton could use one particular value, from the Book of Exodus, “you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
    Or does he take it literally and thinks it only applies to those that live next door?
Andrew Simpson
Newborn
Via e-mail