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Sarasota News Leader October 19, 2012 OPINION other words, Amendment 8 opens the door for unlimited funding of religious groups or activities with taxpayers' money. The irony is that federal law prohibits discrim- ination or unequal application of the law, so — in the unlikely event the federal government did not take exception to the state's constitu- tional willingness to finance religious groups or activities from public coffers — it could be argued that Florida might be required at some point to use tax money to fund a religious school that would not be as popular with the ultra-right and exclusionary proponents be- hind this amendment, to wit: an Islamic ma- drasah. The current constitution wisely preserves reli- gious freedom by keeping it free from govern- ment interference, which always comes with government funding. The proposed amend- ment naively seeks to remove that prohibi- tion, ultimately diminishing the constitutional protection of religious freedom. We urge voters to vote NO for proposed Amendment 8 on Nov. 6. Page 65 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICE CHIEF CANDIDATES' CAR MODEL INFORMATION POINTLESS To the Editor: Why on earth do you include the type of car that the candidates for Sarasota police chief drive? (Show and tell: Oct. 12 issue) Are we supposed to judge the worthiness, the capability or the experience of the candidates from the cars they drive? Is the car model sup- posed to reveal the person's need for power, size of ego, financial astuteness (every finan- cial planner knows that a car is the worst pur- chase you can make as far as an investment is concerned), environmental awareness or how likely the candidate is to survive a 4-car pileup? Come on! The next thing you will be writing about is the label in their jeans! Ava Whaley Sarasota Take Your TimeYou Have All Week Enjoy The News Leader Anytime - Day or Night