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MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS
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Letter To The Editor
Love. When Israel began the bombing of Gaza, Palestine, Dec. 27-Jan. 20, it was then that something inside of me "snapped." It was as if I was being snapped into ATTENTION, out of my slumber to look at what was really going on in the world around me. There went my last thread of denial, in a thunder clap, snapping me awake so that I could no longer not hear, not see, not know what was going on in Gaza, Palestine and Israel. You see for the past 25 years of my life I have always thought of myself as a spiritual devotee, a seeker on the path, a person with a devotion to spiritual "awakening." I was just not concerned with anything I considered "political." I have always felt that real change in the world could only occur on an individual level. That spiritual "enlightenment" was the only way to go if the earth was to be a "lotus paradise." Well, what I have learned in the past three months is that Gaza is far from being a lotus paradise!!
It was during this snapping into the "political" awakening process that memories from my childhood came rushing forward into my awareness. Remembering my mother and father watching the news about "Israel" and the war (take note: no memory of word Palestine), of my parents shock at Vanessa Redgrave speaking out for the P.L.O. (Palestine Liberation Organization) when she received an Oscar award live on TV., of Yassar Arafat going to the Camp David peace talks with president Jimmy Carter as my father and I watched on TV. All these memories of events fell so much into place that I could not believe that this bitter war has been going on for the past 61 years, since 1948! Now, I am a mother to a six-year-old son and is this awful reality going to continue into his adulthood as well? How shameful that we would let it continue!
Through this sometimes difficult, emotional, profound "political" awakening process I became in touch with core deep aspects of myself. The most important is that I have a voice and not only do I have a voice but it is also my right and absolutely my responsibility as a citizen of the world to make that voice HEARD! For the past two months I have been protesting for Palestine, for people who do not always have a voice, against the human atrocities and war crimes committed against them and speaking out about the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and United States foreign policies. I do this on Sunday mornings from 9:30-12:30 with the Forest Knolls Peace Center in Forest Knolls on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. They have been doing this every Sunday for the past six years, since the start of the Iraq War! Afterwards I feel inspired, exhilarated and at peace with myself, the same way I would after "spiritual practice." Surprising, I find that in doing something "political," I actually feel spiritual, I feel spirit-well! Maybe being political and spiritual are ONE and THE SAME after all... and maybe just maybe the Earth can be a Lotus Paradise for all sentient beings that live upon HER and maybe someday soon we will awaken into that.
Love,
Deirdre McDonald
Forest Knolls
Support For Israel
Please support Israel. It is the only Democratic country in the Middle East. It is a tiny country and cannot continue to exist without our support and understanding.
Hamas and Hezbollah receive an unlimited supply of money, arms and rockets from Syria and Iran. There is nothing the United States can do to please the terrorists' organizations - other than abandon Israel.
Again, I ask that you support Israel.
Joyce Byrum
Antioch, CA 94509-2172
Concerns About Breast Cancer In Marin
As a teenage girl hearing about the prominence of Breast Cancer in the Marin County population left me with many questions and confusions. My mother came home from work one day with a water filter because a coworker had warned her about the high arsenic levels in our tap water that were a direct cause of Breast Cancer.
Living in an area and time in which knowing one or more breast cancer survivors is not uncommon, I wondered why are women more susceptible even though we have a noticeably fit, healthy, and educated population.
The Marin Municipal Water District claims there are no unnatural levels of Arsenic, Chromium, Mercury, Methyltertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), Perchloroethylene (PCE), Perchlorate, or Trichloroethylene (TCE), all of which they have and will continue to run extensive tests on. This conflicting research was supported by the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry research: "Data from our cancer registry show that the breast cancer occurrence rate in Marin County is higher than in other counties, and many people there are concerned that the higher rate might be related to something in the environment. Women who are affluent, well educated, and have few children have a greater chance of developing breast cancer than women who do not have these characteristics."
From the information I read I found that the hormone change in women that choose to have children at a later age is the most likely cause for cancer. I want to read more about how hormones effect the female's likelihood of developing breast cancer, and what can I, as a teenage girl, do to prevent myself from being in that population.
Chiara Sbolci
Tamiscal High School
San Anselmo
Souter's Replacement Should Be Constructionalist
The retirement of Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter is critical to all Americans. Though Democrats are hoping for a younger liberal to replace him, conservative Republicans are praying Souter's decision will provide President Obama with the opportunity to rethink his personal pragmatism, to forgo some of his party's policies and to appoint a strictly constructionalist judge who will help restore to the country and its citizens the nation's founding Christian principles and values.
Decades of Godless Supreme Court decisions have created a culture of death in America that now sanctions and even approves everything from contraception to abortion, homosexual activity, sex outside of marriage, divorce, sterilization, in-vitro fertilization, pornography, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia and even false notions of a just war.
Without objective truth responsibility, evil, goodness and moral judgment lack any clear concept or manageable moral definition. Indeed, immoral acts are often falsely elevated to the status of moral virtues under the description of the "right act" - that being the act required to bring about the "perceived" greater good.
In this time of great moral upheaval let us hope that President Obama will be moved by the grace of God - that he will hear the genuine voice of conscience and appoint someone to the Supreme Court worthy of upholding Supreme values.
With respectful and cordial best wishes I remain,
Paul Kokoski
Hamilton, Ontario. Canada
What Happened To Obama And When
I'm really, really disappointed in President Obama's decision to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners claiming that the release would "further inflame anti-American opinion". Yes it might inflame some anti-American opinion in the short term but in the long term it will show the world the we are a nation of integrity and we don't cover up criminal activity. It shows the world that we are serious about stopping torture. Torture is something America did and it's not just going to go away if we ignore it. It makes me wonder if Obama is serious about torture. Does he not understand the magnitude of what torture means?
In particular I was offended by Obama's characterization that Abu Ghraib had been dealt with saying that "the individuals who were involved have been identified, and appropriate actions have been taken." Obama went on to falsely claim that the abuses were done "a small number of individuals." What Obama doesn't get is that Torture was ordered by President Bush and Vice President Cheney who are still arguing that Torture is legal and that America is unsafe if we stop torturing. We cannot let those who gave the orders go unpunished because if we do then it shows that America isn't serious. All it says is that America doesn't torture when the Democrats are in power. It says that the issue of torture is subject to interpretation rather than being an absolute rule.
When we elected Obama I thought we were electing someone who was a leader. He depicted himself as the guy who spoke out against the Iraq War, and that "Change doesn't come from Washington, change TO Washington. Now it appears Obama is now Washington and those who are on the inside want to sweep out national sins under the rug and pretend it never happened. But torture is like hiding a rotting corpse in your basement. At some point you have to drag it out and get rid of it. Mr. Obama, it's not going to just go away! You're a smart guy so figure it out. The people are rising up and demanding resolution and you don't want to be on the Republican side when the big wave comes!
I'm Marc Perkel - And I approved this message!
Marc Perkel
San Bruno
Environmental Neglect and the Recession.
Special interests allege that the vital environmental reforms promised by our new president will strangle our economy and impede recovery of this recession. Even simple research invalidates this fallacy.
Long term economic recovery, as well as improved quality of life, cannot be attained until our trade imbalances and dangerous dependence on foreign oil are checked, and the adverse health and social effects from pollution and global warming are mitigated. Experiences show that his can be achieved only by implementing meaningful fuel efficiency and conservation measures with stern oversight.
This president can never achieve his campaign pledges until he detooths the well-organized lobbyists who have blocked so many vital environmental measures in the past with misinformation and fabrication of science.
Robert Settgast
San Rafael
Dear Friends, colleagues, and other interested parties:
I'm pleased to announce the publication of the paperback edition of what Newsweek calls "the best book written about the 1960s," NIXONLAND: THE RISE OF A PRESIDENT AND THE FRACTURING OF AMERICA (Scribner). You can find a copy here: http://tinyurl.com/czjzt5
"Whether readers lived through the '60s or not, they will be gripped from start to finish." --Christian Science Monitor
"It is bigger and better than ideology." --America Spectator
"Perlstein is the hypercaffeinated Herodotus of the American Century." --The Nation
"Both brilliant and fun." --Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek and Pulitzer-prize winning biographer
"Perlstein offers a hint of how interesting the political and intellectual dialogue might be if he could attract some mimics." --The Politico
"A hell of a book...It's a great gift for somebody who really likes the dark side of politics." --Chris Matthews
"Compulsively readable." --George Will, The New York Times Book Review
Thanks for reading.
Rick Perlstein
Iranian Nuclear Missile Threat
Iran tested the launch of a Scud missile from a ship in the Caspian Sea, which was designed to provide the capability of launching intermediate range missiles from cargo ships sitting off coastlines. Also, within a few years Iran will have long range missiles capable of striking North America.
Iran could have nuclear warheads available to mount on missiles in late 2009. The U.S. and other countries do not have missile defense systems to ward off an attack. Counter strikes could be launched against Iran, but this would not prevent Iran from launching an initial strike based on irrational thinking by Amadmanejad and his Iranian cohorts.
The Obama Administration is making conciliatory gestures towards Iran, but is not making any progress in curtailing Iran's nuclear development program. According to Walid Phares, an expert on global terrorism and the Middle East, "the perception in Tehran is the Obama Administration will not use everything at its disposal to apply pressure on Iran".
Furthermore, Obama's apparent bow to Saudi King Abdullah is perceived as an act of submission and weakness by the international community.
I fear Obama's naive blunders will embolden Iran to pursue and possibly use its nuclear missile capabilities.
Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry, NH
Letter to President Obama from A Palestinian Doctor in the Galilee
Dear President Obama:
In approaching the task of addressing you directly about a personal issue, I feel daunted by the abyss that separates the two of us in status and power. I am a retired public health physician, attempting to maintain a hold on his sanity and physical health by puttering around his garden in a Palestinian village in Galilee. You are the president of the nation most of humanity envies and desires to join, burdened with the task of saving the world from economic and political chaos and now from nuclear war.
Yet I find enough shared experiences between us to embolden me to speak to you as an equal in humanity if in no other regard. Like you, I am a product of Hawaii, where I attended university at the time your late parents did, and of Harvard, where we both received our professional training. I subsequently returned to my village and worked among my people to treat their illnesses and improve their wellbeing physically, mentally and socially with varying degrees of success and frustration. Unlike you, I came up fast against the glass ceiling set very low for Palestinian citizens of Israel like me. I have written a book of memoirs (see last below) that documents my professional struggle over three and a half decades. It would be a great honor for me if you were to read it as part of your education on the issues of my community and of our potential as a bridge for peace in the Middle East.
Now to the subject of my message, Mr. President: The newly-elected prime minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, and his foreign minister, Mr. Avigdor Lieberman, plan evict me from my home and to take away my garden. These two persons and their fellow ministers were democratically elected to their positions and will use 'democratic' means at their disposal to legitimize my disenfranchisement as have previous Israeli governments done in the past. The difference is that the current leaders are explicit and aggressive about disadvantaging me based on my ethnicity. They have devised a way to blame me for my victimhood. They intend to ask me to sign an oath of allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state, a state that defines itself as exclusive of me and my people.
Democracy, Mr. President, may be the best political system, but, alas, it is no guarantee of justice and equality when it is abused to give unrestricted power to an exclusivist majority. My community, citizens of Israel since its establishment, makes up a fifth of the country's population but owns a constantly shrinking share of the land that currently stands at 3% of the total. Our towns and villages receive 3-5% of municipal budgetary allocations. Our infants and children die at over twice the level of our Jewish co-citizens -- and the relative ratio is rising of late. Our two communities continue to live in racially segregated residential areas often separated by walls and barbwire. Mr. President, I am not writing of the West Bank or Gaza but of neighborhoods in 'mixed cities' within the Green line.
You are the lead protector and promoter of true democracy in the world. As such, I call on you, Mr. President, to stand up to such corrupting practices presented to the world under the guise of sound democratic principles.
And as a fellow human being, I ask you, Mr. President, to put yourself momentarily in my position and consider how I should react to the racially based transfer designs of these politicians. Here, in the person of Avigdor Lieberman, is another presumably equal co-citizen of Israel who calls openly for my disqualification from our shared citizenship because I want to be equal to him under the laws of our common country. He insists on having me step down from our presumed common stand of equality and kowtow openly to his privileged status as the son of a certain race and religion. Would you do that, Mr. President, were it to be demanded from you by a fellow American citizen, be he Anglo-Saxon, Hispanic or Asian immigrant, or even a Native American?
As an alternative, Mr. Lieberman wants me transferred out of the country though I have lived on land I inherited legally from forefathers who almost surely have better claim to descent from the ancient Hebrews than his. And mind you, Mr. President, my residence in the home he wants me evicted from predates the establishment of the state he wants to appropriate as his, and his alone, while he is a recent immigrant from Moldova. Would you, Mr. President, take a loyalty oath confirming your second-class status?
Mr. Lieberman's best-case scenario for tolerating my existence in his vicinity is to have the homes of the likes of me re-zoned into one of the Bantustans he envisions, to be created and run by remote control from behind an ethnic separation wall. Would you succumb gracefully, without protest, to such a scheme, Mr. President?
You have to understand, sir, that I speak here of life-and-death issues for me and my family. Mr. Lieberman, Israel's Foreign Minister, attained his impressive status through an openly racist election campaign that featured mass rallies at which calls of "Death to Arabs" were standard. Would you trust such a man with your future in the international arena, Mr. President? I surely hope not: but the majority of Israeli citizens seem to have done exactly that.
That is where I sense danger, sir; in the assigning of my fellow countrymen of responsibility for our common future to fascist and untrustworthy representatives. Past injustices, and those were many and massive against my people, were never so clearly foretold as the ones the current Israeli government threatens to perpetrate against me, my family, my village and my people. It is with this clearly articulated plan of my transfer in mind that I call on you to use the undeniable prestige of your office to stop such plans from being implemented. I ask you, sir, to reassure me that you will never permit such schemes to be on any agenda discussed in the presence of representatives of the United States of America. I need that in order to be able to sleep, Mr. President.
With my best wishes for a peaceful and happy Easter for you and your family and for all of humanity, I remain,
Hatim Kanaaneh, MD, MPH
Author of 'A Doctor in Galilee: The Life and Struggle of a Palestinian in Israel ', Pluto Press, 2008
Active Blog: http://a-doctor-in-galilee.blogspot.com/
ACORN Must Be Doing Something Right!
It was just before the election when I first heard those desperate Republicans pointing their fingers -- wildly at ACORN.
It didn't stop at the election. In the months since, I've heard more and more. Then, just yesterday, Republican Party chair Michael Steele launched an entire website accusing ACORN of taking billions of dollars in taxpayer money and called on Republicans to "Stop ACORN".
I could only think one thing: If these guys hate ACORN so much, then ACORN must be doing something right. Sign me up. From now on, when you pick on ACORN, you pick on me.
ACORN is a damn unique organization. While everyone else is talking about issues and ideas and politics, ACORN is out there working. They're working side-by-side with the people most affected by years of failed economic and health care policies, by the crappy economy. They don't just work with poor people -- they are poor people. Poor people doing all they can to stay in their homes, raise their kids, improve their environment and their schools. Get the picture? Yeah.
All of the sudden, it's pretty clear why ACORN has all these guys running scared. And it isn't letting up. As long as these guys think they can get away with kicking the poorest people in the country while they're down, they'll keep doing it.
This is your chance. Choose a side. Do you stand with the families doing their best to make ends meet, or do you stand with the pundits and politicians who are attacking them every day? Stand with me. Stand with ACORN. Stand for something.
Right now ACORN needs us. They need us to stand with them, in body and spirit, to counteract the power of the pundits. Join ACORN, and join me -- you, too, can be the enemy of people like Rush, Bill O'Reilly, and all the other pundits running scared.
Let's give them something to really be scared about: You, me, and hundreds of thousands standing with ACORN.
Roseanne Barr
On behalf of ACORN
Schakowsky Asks Holder to Appoint a Special Prosecutor
Dear Mr. Attorney General:
As a member of Congress deeply concerned about the Bush Administration's interrogation policy, I want to congratulate President Barack Obama on barring the use of torture and abuse and disclosing important documents on the past use of torture. These steps have moved the United States towards restoring the rule of law, upholding our American values, and enhancing our country's national security.
Now that the Obama Administration has taken these steps, I am writing to request that you appoint a Special Counsel or Independent Commission to investigate whether federal criminal laws were violated by anyone involved in the development, authorization, ordering or implementation of the Bush Administration's policies and practices regarding the interrogation of prisoners. The newly disclosed Justice Department memoranda, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross' 2007 report finding that the federal government engaged in torture, make clear that a full top-to-bottom criminal investigation of possible torture crimes is warranted.
There is mounting evidence that the Bush Administration systematically implemented, from the top down, detainee interrogation policies that constitute torture or otherwise violate the law. Therefore, I believe that an immediate investigation is warranted to determine whether actions taken by the former president, former vice president, their Cabinet, or other officials of the last Administration violated the War Crimes Act (18 USC 2441), the Anti-Torture Act (18 USC 2340-2340A), and other U.S. and international laws. I also believe that it is necessary to appoint a Special Counsel or Independent Counsel in order to ensure that a thorough and impartial investigation occurs, and that the prosecution of anyone who violated federal criminal statutes prohibiting torture and abuse is pursued if warranted by the facts.
Again, I commend the Obama Administration for ending the misguided interrogation policies of the Bush Administration that relied on torture and strongly urge you to appoint a Special Counsel or Independent Commission to investigate the actions taking by the Bush Administration to determine if laws were broken. I look forward to hearing from you in response to our request.
Jan Schakowsky
Member of Congress
Israel Must Be Accepted
As a native Californian, who was raised in SF & Menlo Park and who graduated from UC Berkeley, and who moved to Israel 25 years ago, I have a perhaps unique perspective on the upcoming meeting between Israel's new prime minister and America's new president. (They have much more in common than you might think from most media reports, which by nature focus on points of conflict - mostly in their mutual desire, and the dream of their people, for peace and justice.)
As an American, I share President Obama's belief in dialogue and compromise, though many call it "naive"; as an Israeli I share Prime Minister Netanyahu's skepticism and reticence to rely on yet more promises, and his insistence on protecting Israel's people from terror attacks whether by Palestinian suicide bombers and Katyusha rockets or by Iranian nuclear missiles.
There is one central issue your readers (and Obama and his advisors) must understand to hope to contribute to a real resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Arab and Muslim world for over 60 years has rejected the legitimacy of the establishment of Israel as the state of the Jewish people (as called for in the Mandate for Palestine and the UN's 1947 "partition plan" recommendation). Only when the Arab and Muslim people, including the Palestinians, accept Israel - led by their political and religious leaders and promoted in their schools and media - and are ready to focus on the building of a just, stable society rather than focusing on destroying the Jewish state, they will find all Israelis ready to live in peace.
All the rest pales in comparison to this reality. If President Obama (and the Pope, for that matter) truly wants to help the Palestinians, and to bring peace to the area, he should assist them in building the infrastructure and culture of a free society based on the rule of law, rather than repeating tired slogans about "2 states" or "land for peace".
Until then, Israel will do what it must to survive, to flourish, and to protect the citizens of the only democracy in the Middle East - Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze, Bahai and others.
Aryeh Green
Beit Shemesh, IL
No Peace Without Equality
How proudly we hailed the stunning election of Barak Obama with its grand affirmation of our belief that all men are created equal. What greater victory for the African American struggle than to have an African American in the White House!
But our attitude toward the African American struggle for equality stands in stark contrast to our attitude toward the Palestinian struggle for equality.
The United States played a significant role in creating the Israel/Palestine conflict. It disregarded its own 1919 King Crane Commission's warning that the Zionist plan to colonize Palestine and dispossess its inhabitants would constitute a "gross violation" of the Palestinian right to self-determination. In brazen defiance of the Commission, the US became instrumental in pushing through the 1947 UN resolution depriving Palestinians of the right to self-determination. For too many years now the US has been massively funding Israel despite its brutal oppression of the Palestinian people.
It is illegal and immoral to use our tax dollars to support Israel's oppression of Palestinians in flagrant violation of international law, UN resolutions and Universal Human Rights. Israel must end its blockade of Gaza, freeze the expansion of settlements and return to its 1967 borders. The United States must participate in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
There will never lasting peace until justice is done and Palestinians are recognized as equal human beings.
Edith Cacciatore and
Jeanne Jensen
Novato
To Be Precise About The Second Amendment
LETTER TO: Rep. Lynn Woolsey
Thank you for your April 22 letter responding to mine on firearms issues. It is good to hear from you, although sadly, most of your views on firearms are mistaken. You profess support for our Second Amendment protections, but like so many of your Democrat colleagues in Congress, seem entirely unable to grasp the plain English meaning of word "infringe"-to impair, restrict, weaken, limit, trespass, encroach, fail to observe the terms of (a law), neglect to obey, etc.
It is in my view unfortunate that your staff seems to provide you firearms information only from the Brady Campaign (long discredited as unreliable) and similar anti-gun organizations, as indicated by your remark suggesting that the Second Amendment protects only the ownership and use of firearms for hunting and sporting purposes. That has long been a premise alleged by the Brady organization and its predecessor, Handgun Control Inc. However, nowhere in Constitution and Bill of Rights is there any reference to either hunting or sporting firearms.
However, what I find most astonishing is that you omitted any reference to our preeminent reasons for possessing firearms: defense of self, family, home and business-self-defense being the primordial natural right of every creature on planet Earth. Those are certainly among "the rights embodied in the Second Amendment" that you refer to. In that regard, see these two excerpts from the recent US Supreme Court ruling in D.C. v. Heller:
"It was plainly the understanding in the post-Civil War Congress that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to use arms for self-defense." (And) "Whatever the reason, handguns are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense in the home, and a complete prohibition of their use is invalid."
You would be much better served by your staff if they got their information on firearms matters from the NRA. The Journal of the American Library Association (ALA) has reported that "a high library source" (implication: the Library of Congress) had said that the view among congressional staffers is that the lobbyists who provide the most consistently reliable information were those of the ALA and the NRA.
I agree with you that firearms safety and storage are of major importance. However, I find it odd that you chose to emphasize the minuscule 800 accidental deaths as significant. For roughly the last two decades, accidental gun deaths have been held at historic all-time lows, remaining at about 0.8 percent of all accidental fatalities, kept at that low level despite steadily continuing increases in population and the number of firearms in private hands. That was accomplished chiefly through the dedicated efforts of NRA and its tens of thousands of volunteer safety instructors, providing safety training for both adults and children, You doubtless know of the NRA's award-winning Eddie Eagle Program for teaching gun safety to children, a program approved and commended by the National Safety Council and adopted by many American police departments across the nation.
Unfortunately, almost all restrictive firearm measures that you and others of the majority party pursue to reduce violent gun crime are counterproductive, because they are aimed at controlling the behavior of the law-abiding in the bizarre belief that they will control criminal behavior. However, firearms are the "tools of their trade" for violent criminals, and criminals, by definition, specialize in ignoring laws-that's what they do in their line of work. In fact, they welcome anti-gun laws, because that makes their power greater relative to that of their intended victims, while disarming and thus increasing the vulnerability of those victims.
The sad truth is that most members of Congress are woefully ignorant of basic firearm facts, whether of safety, function, capability or technology, seemingly governed primarily by the cosmetic appearance of certain arms, as evidenced by the plethora of foolish and illogical firearms legislation they enact. They apparently never consider the possible unintended consequences of their feckless gun legislation. A prime example is the so-called "smart gun" technology that your letter advocates. If enacted, it will undoubtedly be the death sentence for many, perhaps hundreds, of good citizens who would be saddled with it. Is that what you want?
Consider two likely scenarios: A home invasion: the husband, wounded and incapacitated, drops his handgun, and his wife grabs it, aiming it at the armed thug, and is shot while helplessly trying to pull its "smart" deactivated trigger. Is that what you want? Or a police gunfight: a wounded police officer is incapacitated, drops his pistol in the street. His partner, still in the fight but suddenly out of ammunition, grabs the fallen pistol, but is shot dead while futilely trying to fire this now useless "smart" piece of steel junk. An innocent citizen and a good cop, killed by a mindless Act of Congress. Is that what you and your colleagues want?
Senator Warren Magnusson accurately characterized the flaws in most gun laws from the Congress when he said: "Gun control is a solution conceived in hysteria, born in ignorance, intended to foster complacency, and destined to futility." Another view, and probably the true reason for Congress' obsession with gun control laws, was exposed by Sen. Thomas Dodd (D-CT) (infamous for his GCA-68 that he copied almost verbatim for Hitler's Nazi gun laws), when he said that gun control "is the sweetest gravy train of free publicity ever invented."
The most effective laws are those that reverse the balance of power between disarmed citizen and armed thug, as proved by enactment of nondiscretionary ("shall issue") concealed carry laws (CCW laws). As state after state adopted them, from 1987 and on through the 1990s, the US homicide rate plummeted, cut by half in just nine years, from a 1991 high of 9.8 to 2000 where it has now leveled off at between 5.5 and 5.7 per 100,000 population (see enclosed photo of my chart on the 1900-2006 US Homicide Rates). As the California Rifle & Pistol Association's sticker says: "Society is safer when criminals don't know who's armed."
Finally, I would add that repeatedly confirmed criminological research has found that armed citizens annually prevent about 2.5 million violent crimes, in the process saving the lives of some 400,000 persons-that's over ten times the annual combined total of homicide, suicide, and accidental gun deaths. Furthermore, the National Academy of Science, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, all report being unable to find any evidence that gun laws have any effect in reducing violent crime.
I would greatly appreciate your serious review and earnestly request your comments on my remarks in this letter.
Respectfully,
Fielding Greaves
Lt Col, US Army, Retired
Who We Are As A Nation, As A People
I see stories in the news about who in the Bush administration will NOT be prosecuted for torture while each day we learn more and more about what happened. We do not yet know who did what, and we need to at least figure out what it is that happened before we make any decisions about who to or not to prosecute. Torture is a serious matter. Torture defines who we are as a people and as a nation. We hold ourselves out as a nation of laws. Yet if we try to cover up what happened and we fail to prosecute those who committed crimes amounting to Treason to the Constitution, we send a message to the world that our position on torture is dishonest. It is important that America show the world that we take the issue of torture seriously enough to at least find out what happened and that our laws of the United States apply to everyone, including the President.
I'm Marc Perkel - And I approved this message!
Marc Perkel
San Bruno, CA.
Israeli-Palestine Peace Is About Jobs, Prosperity And Hope
# There is no question that Israel has been and continues to work towards peace, but pressuring Israel and the region to move towards a two-state solution quickly comes with a set of serious risks as well.
# Israel left all of Gaza in 2005 but, in return, has endured thousands of rockets from Iran-backed-Hamas. How is Israel to make peace when Hamas controls Gaza and they don't accept Israel's right to exist?
# Peace is not just about land disputes. It's about jobs, prosperity and hope for all sides of the conflict - for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Every Palestinian child deserves a better future, and so does every Israeli child. If we can agree on that, and Palestinians can stop doing those things that hurt children on both sides, Israel and Palestinians can start on the road to mutual understanding and mutual respect. America should look at the larger picture. We have to think about the future, not live in the past or complain about the present. This is not about territory. It is about terrorism.
# The biggest threat to a two-state solution is Iran. Iran is a threat not only to Israel but also to the region and the world. Iran has an interest in destabilizing the region and working against a peaceful solution to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. After Iranian President Mahmoud Amadinejad's recent tirade against Israel during the United Nations "Durban II" conference on racism in Geneva, there can no doubt of his intentions. Iran funds its proxy Hamas in an effort to derail any peace arrangements. The Iranian President has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and denies the Holocaust. He calls Israel a "stinking corpse" that is on its way to annihilation. The Supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, refers to Israel as a "cancerous tumor of a state (that) should be removed from the region". Iranian Army General Commander Atoallah Salehi recently bragged that it will only take them (Iran) 11 days "to wipe Israel out of existence".
# Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, a defensive 22-day ground and air operation in Gaza on December 27, 2008 in an effort to halt years of Hamas rocket fire into Israel and arms smuggling into the Palestinian territory, which is controlled by the militant group. Over 6,500 rockets have been fired by Iran-backed Hamas into Israel from Gaza since 2005 after Israel uprooted its citizens and unilaterally withdrew 3,200 rockets were fired into Israel in 2008 alone. Why is there nothing in the U.N. report condemning Hamas for targeting innocent civilians in southern Israel?
# Earlier this week, at AIPAC's annual Policy Conference in Washington, DC, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed conference participants via satellite and said "We (Israel) seek expanded relations with the Arab world. We want normalization of economic ties and diplomatic ties. We want peace with the Arab world. But we also want peace with the Palestinians. That peace has eluded us for more than 13 years. Six successive prime ministers of Israel and two American presidents have not succeeded in achieving this final peace settlement. I believe it is possible to achieve it, but I think it requires a fresh approach, and the fresh approach that I suggest is pursuing a triple track towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians - a political track, a security track, an economic track."
# Despite this new U.N. report and other daily criticism from the world community, Israel strives to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinian people. It is time for the world community to stand for peace and stand with Israel in its efforts to achieve a lasting peace.
Arnold Cohn
San Francisco