Coastal Post Online
MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS
MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
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(415)868-0502(fax) - P.O. Box 31, Bolinas, CA, 94924
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Letters To The Editor
President Obama has made extremely bad appointments to his cabinet. Mostly from the Clinton administration which was very right wing - which continued the bombings of Iraq and carried out 78 continuous days of bombings of Yugoslavia - many of them nuclear bombings from outer space - which were not known by the American public. The entire space project was not known by the American public.
The US brought Werner Von Braun and about 150 Nazi scientists to Colorado Springs after WWII to help start the US space program. There is a very large amount of radioactivity (and cancer) in that part of the US and in all of the areas that have the numerous nuclear facilities of all kinds.
Obama appointed an Admiral who was in charge of the massacres of Indonesia and Timor by the US. The US Empire is by far the strongest empire that has ever existed because of its nuclear missiles and nuclear power, its bases in about 800 countries in the world. The US has spent so many trillions on military and is so indebted because of its military spending - has at least 3 or 4 kinds of military including nuclear facilities in every single congressional district in the US - that it will be extremely difficult to CHANGE this pattern. Obama speaks so much of change - and this is the most important change that must be made so that there will be funds available for any other changes like health, education, construction, WPA, CCC, etc.
Sammy Israel,
L.A., CA
Terrified By The "Other Side"
At nearly every event I have attended in support of the Palestinian people, Zionists and supporters of Israel have been present. They have picketed and leafleted, chanted and shouted outside; they have speechified and heckled inside.
A few months ago when Anna Balzer spoke about her experiences in Palestine and her opposition to the Occupation at San Anselmo's First Presbyterian Church, there were many supporters of Israel in the audience. None was prevented from speaking and several did so, including some who made blatantly racist comments. They were booed, but that's all. At the reception following Balzer's presentation, a man who hadn't liked what he heard stood inches away from the young woman screaming in her face.
In contrast to all of those events was Monday night's pro-Israel pep rally at Kol Shofar synagogue in Tiburon. For starters, there was an enormous police presence at the synagogue. In addition, there was private security. The organizers of the event knew that there would be people there who wished to speak out against Israel and they were having none of it.
One person I know was prevented from entering. Another person I know was removed from the meeting in handcuffs, and he had said nothing at all! Synagogue leaders engaged in a pre-emptive strike against any possible disagreement or dissent. The actions of Kol Shofar leaders in preventing people from speaking out are exactly what happens in a police state, and they suggest that defenders of Israel are terrified of allowing discussion of any point of view but the party line.
Buff Whitman-Bradley
Did Bush Do Any Good?
People are asking if Bush accomplished anything good during his presidency. The answer is - Yes! One thing he did was that he utterly destroyed the Republican Party. All the myths that Republicans are fiscal conservatives are gone. The idea that Republicans are better for the economy proved wrong. Trickle down economics and tax cuts for the rich completely discredited. Privatizing Social Security is now a joke. We will have to see if the price to destroy the Republicans was worth the price America has paid to learn the hard way. But at least we can finally say that Republican ideas are an utter failure and hopefully we will never go back there again.
I'm Marc Perkel - And I approved this message!
Marc Perkel
San Bruno, CA.
Gaza And Anti-Semitism
It is shocking to see what is happening now in the world.
The event in Gaza have exposed the dire situation worldwide:
Anti-Semitism has raised its ugly head again. Tens of thousands of people in Europe and in the US have used and an excuse the propaganda they hear from the Muslim part of the world, to go out and openly provoke and incite hatred towards innocent Jews and Israeli people.
They have brutally rioted, burnt Israel and the US flags, held signs reading "Nuke Israel" and "Death to the Jews".
Don't make a mistake: they are not aiming their hatred only towards the Jews. As soon and they "taste" the taste of power, they are going to aim this power against the other modern nations, in order to dominate the free world, and force Islam on all "infidels".
The urgent thing to do now, is to provide the world with balanced and factual information about the situation in Gaza, and here is your opportunity to serve the peaceful and righteous population. Here are the facts, and I would be more than grateful if you could do your part in educating and informing your readers.
Israel grieves for the losses of innocent civilians on both sides - including for the hardship and suffering that were the result of Israel's need to defend herself. However, the losses on both sides are due to Hamas' use of terror against Israeli civilians -- and their use of civilian shields amongst their own civilians.
Israel has suffered through 7 years of bombing of its south, and the attacks were focused on civilian population. Before it attacked, Israel has warned Gaza several times and has asked them to stop the rocket launching.
Israel acted in self-defense against Iran-backed Hamas' terrorist acts aimed at intentionally killing Israeli civilians - just as any civilized nation of the world would act. It is time for Christopher Gunness at UNRWA and others to stop accusing Israel of war crimes and look at the only war criminal here - Hamas - a terrorist organization that uses civilian shields to attack civilians.
Israel has pledged to fully cooperate with all international agencies to help innocent Gazans who are also the victims of the Hamas terrorists.
Israel has announced ahead of time where they are going to attack, in order to give the civilian population the opportunity to move before the attacks. Have you ever heard of an army that used this method? Israel automatically fired at every source of fire aimed against it.
In contrast to Israel, Hamas intentionally exposed its own civilian population to risk of death rather than stopping their rocket fire and helping civilians evacuate from the areas where the rocket launchers were located.
Hamas has killed dozens of moderate Palestinians in order to try to keep moderate forces from prevailing in Gaza. This has undermined the efforts of Palestinians who do want to work for peace.
Israel's ultimate objective is peace and a return to normal commerce between Israel and Gaza. Any cease-fire agreement must include a 100% halt to all rocket attacks by Hamas and guarantees that they cannot re-arm.
It is critical for the Obama Administration to help bring a peaceful solution to the Middle East, so that both Israelis and Palestinians can have a better future.
I am calling for President Obama to continue supporting Israel, for the sake of Israel and the future of our world.
Esther Andrews
San Jose
Joffe And FLAME's Ongoing Attack On The Coastal Post
Of current interest to the readers of the Coastal Post would be the 'iron fist' boycott of the CP under way right now, responsible for the loss of over 33 percent of the CP advertisers, and 13 distribution locations within Marin. When I inquired at the CP I was told, "a couple of individual men were responsible." Then, as though from above, a Gerardo Joffe ' boycott the CP letter' landed in my hands from a business under attack. I was told it was the third letter of its kind received. The letter tried to give the appearance that it was being sent by an individual "who was truly indignant" when in fact it was a form letter from the president of FLAME. (Facts and Logic about the Middle East).
Geraldo Joffe is the president of not only FlAME but he is Cyber king of a vast Zionist propaganda media network and several Israel advocacy groups, as you can find out for yourself by goggling his name with or without 'Coastal Post' included.
His iron fist letters to the freedom loving, socially responsible businesses, who distribute the CP, contain thinly veiled threats of Jewish and non-Jewish boycott if they did not desist in distributing this "hate filled, anti-Semitic paper." His FLAME website, in Letters to the Editor claims to have a volunteer force that called every one of the CP advertisers and distributors. (And then called again, if the paper had not been removed. That I know first hand.
Joffe requests that you mail in, the 'Notice of Cancellation' form at the bottom of his letter, to be filled out and mailed to Don Deane, editor of the CP.
FlAME is a pro- Israel, Zionist propaganda media (non -profit?) tool, and, like the 'editing tool' 'wikipidia', claims only 'volunteers' work for them, yet claims 25,000 donors, not members, and prints monthly 'hasbara's, (educating and clarifying) reports, in major publications of general circulation such as: US News and World Report, The New York Times, The Nation, The American Spectator, The National Review, The Washington Times, and on and on.
FlAME also claims that their 'message' appears in over 50 small town newspapers across the United States and Canada. FlAME's stated purpose is "the research and publication of the facts regarding developments in the Middle East and exposing false propaganda that might harm the interests of the United States and its allies in that area of the world".
So to sum it up, this San Francisco based Israel advocacy propaganda group is working 24-7, with legions of 'volunteers' trying to thwart the last bastion of free press in West Marin. The most effective modern tool in our Orwellian age, radical thing you can do today to fight the power more fierce than bullets, is to talk about the occupation of Palestine to each other.
Do not use your time winning Zionists to your side speak instead to the uninformed. Speak to people with ears to hear, then to groups of ears that hear, about the occupation of Palestine and its devastating effect upon us all. As we build forces by talking out in schools, etc., and all the while observing the "dividing hand of Zionism" (as Karen Nakamura states in her Jan. 09, CP article, NEVER AGAIN) in action, against the Palestinians and the world, and as the Internet shines light exponentially on this censored information, (as a side effect) Christmas will return, and Allah will be praised, because the vampire nation of U.S./Israel will be freed/defeated, and Zionists, like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, will be most grateful of all to lose their slavery. Zionism will be defeated like the white witch, powerless over the masses. May we praise G-D and nature together again in peace.
Kate Hart
Forrest Knolls
Inaccurate Story in Your Publication
I am with Newmont Mining Corporation, and I left a voice message on your main phone number regarding inaccuracies in the Earthworks press release you re-published. RE: "EPA Initiates Enforcement Action over Hazardous Waste Problems at Nevada Gold Mines."
There are some significant inaccuracies in the Earthworks press release, and I would like to clarify them with you so they aren't picked up by others as fact:
First, EPA has not initiated an enforcement action against Newmont, and EPA has confirmed this in writing with Newmont.
One of the factual inaccuracies we pointed out to EPA has to do with certain liquid process streams that the Earthworks news release claims are sent to unlined impoundments and then released to the environment. This is simply not true. The streams in question are sent to engineered, lined impoundments and then recycled to production operations. We monitor the groundwater, and there are no releases of mercury from the impoundment.
It is true that EPA inspected the Gold Quarry facility in 2007 and that the Agency subsequently issued a preliminary report identifying potential violations that might exist. The Agency sought Newmont's comments on the preliminary report. We pointed out several factual and legal inaccuracies in the preliminary report, and have been in a dialogue with EPA concerning whether there are any violations at the Gold Quarry facility.
If you have any questions, please call me. Also, you can contact the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for further information.
Omar Jabara
Newmont Mining Corporation
Sherwood Ross Is An Advocate With An Agenda
First of all, let's get the record straight. Sherwood Ross possesses, in addition to a few writing skills, an agenda. Ross is an advocate. Let's find out what it is he advocates.
Mr. Ross fails to discuss certain important details regarding the so-called Geneva Conventions. In particular, he fails to lay before the reader the FACT that the elements of the Geneva Conventions that related to the term 'Prisoner of War' do not apply to the Islamic thugs who ended up in the custody of agencies of the United States or of the U.S. military. To be specific, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Conventions of 1949 are NOT applicable. The 1st Additional Protocol of 1977 has some arguable relationship to Islamic terror & insurgency, but even that is quite limited and is questionable at best. All anti-American, pro-Islamic-thug zealots like Ross fail to discuss these uncomfortable little details when writing about these things.
The Army Field Manual is designed for use by 20-year-old soldiers on or near the battlefield. It is neither helpful nor useful to civilian agencies like the CIA, and such agencies and their contractors are under no obligation to refer to or abide by it. Any suggestion that it somehow applies is actually an attempt to militarize non-military agencies of the U.S. government, something that cannot & should not occur.
We are evidently supposed to be impressed--even cowed--by the prospect of self-appointed watchdog groups called Human Rights First and the Center for Constitutional Rights proclaiming that various American officials may be war criminals. These are serious words, to be sure, and I am sure it puffs one up to be able to utter them about the leaders of the United States, whether they apply or not; it provides a sense of self-importance and worth to those who would otherwise not enjoy such a sense of themselves in the world.
Of course, Human Rights First and the Center for Constitutional Rights are not actually RESPONSIBLE for anything. Their leaderships were not elected to any post or office, and they have no specific interest in protecting a nation or its people. They promote themselves as possessing some kind of high moral gravitas, but it is all a matter of self-anointment. It is interesting to note that the headquarters of HRF are in New York & Washington, DC, but they have no apparent presence in what would seem to be more appropriate locations in this world, like Baghdad or Kabul or Cairo or Amman or Beirut or Khartoum or Beijing or Pyongyang. Why is that? Oh, yes, it's because if ANY of those other places their people would likely be locked up and never heard from again, preventing them from accusing the political leaders of the United States of being war criminals!
Chris Rasmussen
Novato
To His Holiness Benedictus XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)
Since you don't provide an email contact on your web page (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/index.htm), I am forced to use other avenues. Your opposition to abortion represents an unfortunate instance of anthropocentrism. Man is a (VERY) latecomer to the Earth, and thus owes a great deal of deference to the multitude of species that preceded us (yea, gave rise to us!). To oppose abortion, and thus multiply the number of humans far out of proportion to the ability of the Earth to provide for us, is at the very least disrespectful to those species, and at worst a crime of colossal proportions.
Galileo corrected the Church's misplaced hubris regarding our planet. Darwin (whose 100th anniversary is being celebrated -- and I do mean CELEBRATED -- soon) did the same for its misplaced preference for mankind. I dare say that you have had plenty of time and eloquent arguments to correct your harmful bias toward one species -- one that is in no important way superior to any other.
I earnestly encourage you to study conservation biology as diligently as you do the anthropocentrically biased literature of our errant species.
Sincerely yours,
Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.
San Ramon, CA 94583-5099
Recalcitrant Israelis?
While writing on the inauguration Jon Carroll used the word "recalcitrant."
My dictionary is the CHAMBERS ENGLISH DICTIONARY of 2003; perhaps Mr. Carroll is using a more archaic definition of "recalcitrant."
CHAMBERS defines "recalcitrant" as "obstinate in opposition."
Mr. Carroll uses "recalcitrant" to describe one of the many Gordian knots that "Obama has to deal with... rapacious bankers, recalcitrant Israelis, corrupt oil ministers . . ."
Notice: He sandwiches the Israelis amongst such fine company.
Has Mr. Carroll accidentally misused "recalcitrant" or is he taking the opportunity to slip old fashion anti-Zionism (the secular version of anti-Semitism) in to the euphoria of Obama's inauguration?
Hmm, the Israelis are "recalcitrant."
The Israelis are "obstinate in opposition."
What specifically makes Israelis "recalcitrant?"
Are they "obstinate" in their opposition to missiles and mortar shells raining down on them from Gaza?
Are they "obstinate" because the will not open their borders to more suicide bombers from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip?
Are they "obstinate" because they crimp the flow of weapons entering Gaza from Egypt?
Maybe the Israelis are "obstinate" because they only tolerated 10,000 Kassam missiles strikes over the last seven years before reacting with a disproportionate force.
Or, they are "recalcitrant" because they will not return the Golan Heights so that Syria can resume pummeling Galilee with artillery fire.
Or, Israel is "recalcitrant" because it will not allow itself to be inundated by people bend on voting it and its progressive culture out of existence.
Perhaps they are "obstinate" because they will not comply with Hamas' simple demands that they dismantle the state of Israel, expose their jugulars to their enemies or march compliantly into the Mediterranean.
Hamas could have prevented billions of dollars in property damage and the loss of thousands of lives, had they only stopped firing missiles and mortars into Israel.
As the destruction and carnage unfolded, Hamas kept firing.
Hamas leaders, who, as the shooting abated, reemerged from hiding in the basements of hospitals and schools, will now begin the arduous process of salting away the aid money that will inevitably begin to dropping into their sticky palms.
The Saudis have already promised to forward a billion of the petrol dollars we sent them.
Like the Billionaire Arafat and their PLO kleptocratic predecessors, Hamas will rake in millions by cyclically provoking Israelis into retaliation and then skimming the ensuing humanitarian aid.
Hamas are fortunate to have 1.2 million hostages to barter for humanitarian aid: it's the best job in Gaza.
But alas, let us forget all this and remember what Jon Carroll pointed out: it is the Israelis who are "recalcitrant."
Jeffrey R Smith
Alameda, California
U.S. Naval Aviator and Lieutenant Commander Retired
Israel Does Not Target Civilians
Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban, Al Qaida, and the rest of the countless Islamic/Arab terror structure, who target Israeli and Jewish targets in Israel and worldwide, as well as their own civilian populations,
Israel Does not target civilians and takes deliberate measures to avoid collateral casualties, often at the risk of its own troops. UNRWA is a self-governed, by local Arabs, UN funded and self-perpetuating agency "temporarily" assisting "refugees" since 1948. It has a vested interest in swelling the "refugee" count with new "refugees" and self proclaimed "refugees" every year, and the budget with foreign aid, and perpetuating the refugee problem, not solving it, as Israel did with 750K Jews expelled from every Arab country after 1948/1967, as Germany did with millions of ethnic Germans expelled from Easters Europe after WWII, and every other country except the Arabs/"Palestinians". Christopher Gunnes and UN disseminate the kind of disinformation and propaganda that Nazi propaganda machine could envy.
Remember the Al Dura hoax? Third world dominated UN has been consistently grossly hostile to Israel and aiding Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, safeguarding terrorists from apprehension and refusing to disclose information re. location of abducted Israelis, hindering rescue efforts. You can take Christopher Gunnes' words at face value when you take at face value every price quoted at an Arab market.
Give Me A Break.
Leonard J. Atlas, J. D.
San Francisco
An Open Letter To Obama
The only morally acceptable policy towards Israel is boycott, divestment & sanction. The single best thing you could do for the US and the world would be to end all support for Israel.
It is an insult to the American taxpayer that Congress has just passed another $3 billion a year for more military equipment just as Israel launched its long-planned attack on Gaza. The Gaza operation is a wholesale, bloody slaughter - shooting fish in a barrel - in the most densely populated area on earth.
Israel has violated UN resolutions, international law, Geneva conventions and committed human rights violations since its own inception in terrorism.
Among Israel's many crimes are the use of depleted uranium in Lebanon and its current use of cluster bombs and the horrific white phosphorus in Gaza. As John Pilger remarked, "Israel is the world champion violator of international law.
This country's financial and "immoral" support of Israel makes the United States an enabler, a partner in Israel's war crimes including genocide against the Palestinian people.
Israel supposedly ended the occupation of Gaza but actually retains its stranglehold by blockades, closures, control of air and sea, cutting off power, water, food and medical supplies. The people are caged in the world's outdoor prison.
The last ISM ship that tried to reach Gaza with medical supplies was rammed in international waters and, after being fired on by the Israelis, proceeded to Lebanon. Former Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney was on board.
STOP FUNDING ISRAEL NOW!
Jeanne Jensen
120 Westwood Drive
Novato, CA 94945
(414) 892-5686
Mister Obama, you forget something, about your two daughters...
Dear Mister Obama,
You have declared about the Gaza conflict: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing".
Protect your children? I certainly can understand that. But if you want to be completely correct, should you not tell them the whole story of that house? That you stole it, and also the garden and all the lands around? That you forced the previous owner to go and live in the doghouse?
Because that is exactly what Israel did, stealing the land of the Palestinians, forcing them to live in Gaza or as refugees in tents. As attested by the studies of Israeli historians like Benny Morris.
So, dear Mister Obama, you could not pretend to live in peace in this stolen house, as if nothing happened before! Just one question then: will your "changes" consist in repeating the same old lies of your predecessors about that house?
Please, receive, dear Mister Obama, my best wishes. And tell your friends that, on this land of Palestine, there is place for everybody. Unless a difference of religion or skin color is a problem for somebody?
Michel Collon
13th of January 2009
Stop Scaring People About Mercury
It makes no sense to tell people that fish is bad for you -- every major scientific study (Seychelles, Avon, Harvard/Denmark) shows a positive relationship between fish consumption during pregnancy and brighter, better-behaved, more coordinated children. All you have to do to see that these scare stories are ridiculous is look at the Japanese, who eat 10 times the fish we do -- if eating fish was bad for you, they would be knee-walking idiots. Instead, they live longer, healthier lives than we do, and their kids are academically kicking our kids' butts.
Of course we need to clean up the environment, but mercury occurs naturally. It will always be in our food, in small quantities. The scientific study that was used to set FDA and EPA mercury standards in fish was the Faeroe Island study, a population that gets it's dietary mercury and other contaminants from whale blubber, not from fish.
The people who conducted the study have never allowed peer review of their data, and for that reason alone it should never have been considered useful, much less the basis for anything. Pregnant women need to eat more fish, not less, and you're scaring them.
The media seems to love this story -- and by repeating it over and over again, you are damaging the public health.
Nancy Burhop
Web
Terrorist Access To US Courts
I applaud President Obama for two of his first actions on taking office, namely, uncorking scientific research, especially on human stem cells, that had long been bottled up by the primitive and intolerant-religious persuasions of the Bush administration; and for his reversing the Bush doctrines on contraception and abortion.
With two early home runs, he struck out in proposing to bring the Guantanamo terrorists to the United States for access to our courts. Such action would fly in the face of the US Supreme Court 1950 ruling in Johnson v. Eisentrager (339 US 763, 776). After mentioning an earlier case (Ex parte Kawato (317 US 69, 75)) clarifying the limited access to US courts available to resident enemy aliens, the Eisentrager court added:
"But the nonresident enemy alien, especially one who has remained in the service of the enemy, does not have even this qualified access to our courts, for he neither has comparable claims upon our institutions nor could his use of them fail to be helpful to the enemy."
Of Guantanamo prisoners who have been released, many have returned to the fighting, while those still there demonstrate continued loyalty to their terrorist cause, and thus under the Eisentrager ruling should be denied access to US courts.
Fielding Greaves
Lt Col, USA, Retired
Islamic Domination And Jewish Zionism
Islamic domination and Jewish Zionism, which mark the ideologies behind the conflict in the Middle East are archaic and outdated. With the coming of the Messiah,, Jesus Christ, God is no longer tied to a specific geographical area. God's kingdom is a universal kingdom today. All the people of the earth are the People of God. God is not a real-estate agent.
Violence is and always will be a show of inhuman ferocity that, precisely for this reason, will never be able to solve conflicts among human beings. Only reason and love are the valid means of surpassing and resolving disputes between people. No situation of injustice, no feeling of frustration, no philosophy or religion can justify such an aberration.
The recent cycle of blind violence we are witnessing in Gaza is the result of scandalous injustices and imbalances that create conditions favoring an uncontrollable explosion of the desire for revenge. When fundamental rights are violated, it is easy to fall prey to temptations of hatred and violence. Nonetheless, we must keep in check our base impulses and together work to build a global culture of solidarity that restores hope in the future to the young.
Presently we must raise our prayers for an immediate cease-fire to the fighting in Gaza, for humanitarian corridors to be opened in order to bring help to the suffering peoples, and for international leadership in new efforts to open negotiations that could lead to a lasting settlement.
Paul Kokoski.
Hamilaton, Ontario, Canada
Really Big Change
When we elected Barrack Obama as president we voted for change for all politicians including Democrats. If America wanted to just replace a Republican president with a Democrat they would have elected Hillary Clinton. But Hillary wasn't enough change. We wanted so much change that we elected a black man who no one had ever heard of before 2004. That means not that we want change, but that we really, really, really want change. It would be a mistake if Democrats behaved as usual because in the next election a wave of independent candidates might be the next big winner. As Obama said, "Change doesn't come from Washington. Change comes TO Washington.
I'm Marc Perkel - And I approved this message!
Marc Perkel
San Bruno, CA.
Action Against Hamas Necessary
I commend Israel for finally taking action against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza. If terrorists in Mexico launched rocket bombs on Texas towns on a daily basis, the U.S. would respond immediately. Hamas is the obstacle to peace. Iranian-funded Hamas has indoctrinated the Palestinian population with anti-American, anti-western, anti-Israel extremism, and has for too long terrorized Israeli towns with daily rocket bombs. Hamas must stop its hate education and must stop bombing innocent Israeli civilians.
Lee Green
Redwood City
What Are We To Believe?
Regarding the entrance of Israeli troops into Gaza and the reported purpose of same, what are we to believe?
Are we to believe that innocent Palestinian citizens are being killed and injured?
Of course. But what of the Israeli citizens in those areas targeted by Hamas jihadists who are on the receiving end of daily bombings? Why are there no pictures of grieving Israeli families?
Are we to believe that neither Palestinians nor Israelis desire a lasting peace?
Unlikely. However, while we witness film clips of outraged Palestinians burning the flag of Israel, where are the film clips of the voices of hope and reason, i.e., students and Palestinian families who are weary of having their lives placed in jeopardy by having Hamas place weapons of destruction in their homes and neighborhoods and places of worship?
David Gonzalez
Vallejo
Put Money Into Jobs
The incoming administration and congress are developing an economic stimulus plan of about $800 billion, which is supposed to create approximately three million jobs. The jobs will evolve from projects designed to rebuild and replace our roadways, bridges, dams, and possibly runways. Schools will be upgraded. There could be substantial funding of energy projects, which will hopefully reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
We need quick turnaround projects ready to be implemented within 90 days of funding.
Unfortunately, about $300 billion of the $800 billion economic plan will go to tax cuts for individuals ($200 billion) and businesses ($100 billion), and not create jobs. The tax rebates parceled out in the spring of 2008 did not stimulate the economy because $66 billion of the $78 billion in rebates went into savings accounts or used to pay down debts. Businesses might use the tax cuts to pay down debt and buy back stock.
The incoming administration should not put the $300 billion into tax cuts, but should use the entire $800 billion to create good paying U.S. jobs, while improving our infrastructure, upgrading school resources, promoting alternative energy programs, increasing domestic oil production and reducing the importation of foreign oil.
Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry, NH
Resistance Is A Moral Obligation
Resistance to invasion and occupation by a foreign power has been a moral and human obligation throughout history. The French did it against the Germans in WWII; they sabotaged train lines and created all sorts of mischief, and were hailed as heroes of the Rˇsistance. The Afghans shelled the Russians and we gave them surface to air missiles to shoot down hundreds of helicopters. They were called Mujahadin or Freedom Fighters.
The Palestinians of the Gaza strip, living in squalor in the largest prison on earth, with no access to their ancestral lands without stopping for hours at humiliating checkpoints, are lobbing a few home-made primitive missiles that land mostly in fields and they are labeled "terrorists." Meanwhile the Israelis are flying overhead with Apache helicopters and F16's dropping accurate bombs. They are slaughtering hundreds or innocent civilians. This is a compliment of our "staunchest ally" in the Middle East, feeding off of the American taxpayer and spying on us in their spare time. This disgraceful situation has been going on for the past 60 years. With friends like this, who needs enemies?
Ariel Sharon used to crow: "Who cares who the president of the United States is - we own their Congress." Golda Meir (born in Milwaukee and raised in Eastern Europe) was fond of saying that the Palestinians were lower than dogs. Isn't it high time that the World Court at the Hage indict this crowd of thugs that masquerade as leaders of "the only democracy in the
region"?
Isn't time for American citizens and our politicians to read again the famous Balfour Declaration of 1919? It's easily Googable and consists of one paragraph. The latter part requires that the rights of the resident Palestinian peoples shall not be abrogated. Is that hard to understand?
Thank you,
Michael Venables
San Rafael