Free Republic

<p>ITHACA -- When she returns to Baghdad, Maura Stephens will be looking up friends.</p> <p>They're people she met just weeks before the start of the war in Iraq. Stephens, of Spencer, is afraid for them and their families.</p> <p>"I hope they're alive and I hope to see them," she said.</p>

<p>Deer are a boon and a benefit to my neighborhood. While city planners are busy destroying the beauty of our town, deer have moved in to beautify it. These handsome and harmless citizens should be declared sacred, like their cousins in India. Deer to not cause accidents -- people do. Deer are victims of the evil and ever burgeoning automobile population. Driven by reckless fanatics, cars are noisy, polluting killers of all manner of wildlife, including people.</p>

<p>Imagine a situation where someone builds a new home with a great panoramic view. Then, after a few years, another person legally builds a house on an adjacent lot, blocking out the entire scene.</p> <p>The first homeowner would definitely be frustrated, but there is little that could be done since the second person had every right to build there.</p>

<p>I reside in the city of Ithaca, pay taxes to Tompkins County and carry a New York State driver's license.</p> <p>But I really live in the Republic of Fear. My government was not chosen by the majority of the electors, yet its leaders have tried to bolster their questionable authority by substituting urgency for legitimacy.</p>