Letters to the editor:

Psychic powers article one-sided

I am troubled by The Tiding's recent article about James Twyman's "Festival to Promote Kids' Psychic Powers," as it was reported as news. The reporter accepted extreme claims at face value - for example, that Indigo Children "display telepathic and psychokinetic abilities." And, she unquestioningly quoted Dr. Lee (through translators), the developer of a self-improvement program he coined Brain Respiration (BR), that BR is the first "scientifically proven method … to train children to exhibit extrasensory powers."

Scientific proof of the paranormal - now that would be news! The scientific community demands rigorous studies to eliminate contamination, deception, and bias - blinded, controlled, peer reviewed and replicated. Raising doubts about the veracity of this quote, Dr. Lee's BR websites do not reveal any paranormal effects or scientific studies supporting psychic or other paranormal outcomes of BR.

Your article reported that the University of California in Irvine (UCI), a leading edge research university, is beginning to conduct research on BR. And, Twyman announced online recently that the paranormal affects of BR have recently been confirmed by scientists at UCI. Stranger things have happened, however it raises suspicion that "UCI Today" published nothing of such research.

Twyman should take his purported extrasensory and psychic powers of Indigo Children and BR to the James Randi Educational Foundation. Randi offers a yet unclaimed million dollars to anyone who can scientifically demonstrate paranormal abilities.

Meanwhile, please be careful not to promote spurious supernatural claims by reporting them as news, especially when our children are involved.

Lorie Anderson, Ashland

Kucinich steady in war opposition

In response to your front-page article about Lieberman's saying the war on Iraq was just, I would like to point out that another democratic candidate for president, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has consistently opposed the war. He was quoted today (July 28) by the Des Moines Register covering Kucinich at a forum, as saying "This is the time for us to rejoin the world community, rejoin the United Nations and get our troops out of there." He further stated at this forum televised by C-SPAN, "I don't like the fact that our men and women are being used for targets. "Here is a man who really supports our troops.

Kucinich also acknowledges that we cannot abandon Iraq. He says that "it is time that the United States begins the process of withdrawing our troops, and allow a UN peacekeeping force to take over the reconstruction of Iraq."

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to let your readers know about Congressman Kucinich's position. His strong views are well-reasoned, well-articulated, and grounded in deep caring for the people of the United States. I believe they are worthy of being known and considered.

Selene Aitken, Ashland