Dear Sir,
America's legal system is proving to be a coffin in which our Bill of Rights will soon be sealed. The lawyer group that has wrested billions from the tobacco industry, not satisfied with its gains, has now turned its attention to the firearms industry. The group's representatives, headed by Wendell Gotie of New Orleans, have sold the mayors of many major cities, and some governors, on a scheme to bankrupt the firearms industry and, in the process, have declared themselves the de facto "fourth branch of government." The plan is simple: file as many lawsuits across the country as they can. Win or lose doesn't matter. End game? Bankrupt the firearms industry, bring in lots of money, lawyers and politicians get what makes them happy, we, The People, lose.

For those in the anti-gun crowd, I wouldn't do somersaults just yet. I would cast a wary eye on our Australian friends down under. They went all the way. They didn't have the "troubling" Second Amendment, so they outlawed virtually all firearms. The criminal element then proceeded to prove exactly what has been said all along: "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." Australia's violent crime rate has risen 30 to 40 percent ever since. Rape, robbery, assault, and especially home invasions are all up. Criminals are having a heyday there because the citizens are now effectively unarmed. If America's crime rate were to rise only 20 percent, our nation would fall into martial law. Think of the L.A. riots happening across the land.

The time is ripe to begin choosing jurors who have bought into the propaganda that we should be like every other nation — defenseless. Are you willing to put home and family at risk for another great social experiment sure to cost you or a loved one life itself? The culture war is heating up. Criminals, who have never followed the law, are licking their collective chops at the prospects.

Congressional and state legislators need to hear from us NOW to implement laws that will disallow such lawsuits. If you believe you will always have a voice in government, think again. Pirates with law degrees are stealing it from you daily.

W. Kuykendall
Christoval, Texas

Dear Sir,

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a billboard campaign going in Canada which claims that eating red meat causes impotence in men. While any woman intimately acquainted with a meat-loving man knows different than that, here is scientific data (so far ignored by the Beef Checkoff!) to back up personal positive experience:

1. Vitamin E, plentiful in beef fat, is a precursor of both male and female sex hormones. Vitamin E has been nicknamed "the anti-sterility vitamin." Many studies have shown the importance of meat or butter fat in maintaining normal reproductive powers; its absence results in "nutritional castration" — the failure to bring out male and female characteristics. As butter and animal fat consumption in America has declined, sterility rates and homosexuality have increased. In test animals, poly-unsaturated vegetable oil butter-substitutes were unable to promote growth or sustain reproduction (E.J. Schantz et al, Journal of Dairy Science, 1940, 23:181-89).

2. Cholesterol also is essential to the human body's manufacture of sex (and adrenal) hormones. It is a major component of brain and nerve tissue as well. Our bodies themselves manufacture significant amounts of it every day. That beef is rich in cholesterol ought to be a bragging point. This vitally important substance has been "demonized" by nutrition studies supported by the food processing industry — intent on profit from displacing animal products with cheap vegetable oil, starch and sugar substitutes. Back in the 1970s, processors helped sponsor population studies they claimed showed eating cholesterol-rich foods was linked with heart disease and strokes. Independent reviewers have proved those claims to be fraudulent (Enig et al, Journal of American College Nutrition, April 1991, 10:2:93-106) Meanwhile, dietary cholesterol's value in maintaining fertility, hormonal balance, healthy immune function and good brain and nervous system development has been repeatedly demonstrated (Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon).

3. Beef is also rich in the amino acids lysine, methionine and carnitine. Spermatozoa from animals deficient in these amino acids become infertile (Jeffrey Bland PhD, Octasonal, Carnitine and other Accessory Nutrients). At least it looks like meat-lovers will have the last word, as we will eventually outproduce our detractors!

Jeanne Charter
Shepherd, Montana