Letters for May 27, 2004

I really enjoyed this issue of the RN&R. I’m happy to see Brian is gardening. I think Brian should get together with Deidre and Miranda and start an organic gardening company.

I would vote for Woody for Culture Czar, but I think he should also sell bagel dogs. When does the public stand up and tell the government to stop interfering in other country’s affairs? Bush should read The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick. Deidre is on the same subject. The whole thing is all about oil, as is Three Days of the Condor with Robert Redford.

It’s time America shucks off oil and uses alternative energy. All the oil people should be deported to the Middle East and barred permanently from this country. Thanks for the fresh air of reporting. If we can rid America of Big Oil companies, we need to get independent oil companies back.

Jim Malone
Reno

Don’t voters decide?
Whether they decide to put Bush in again, if they decide not too, he will walk away from all his crimes against humanity, and four years from now, you’ll have Arnie running for president, and don’t give me any crap about him not being a naturalized American, these people can kill people and change laws to suit themselves. The whole world is watching now and waiting for the people of America to take back their country from the Nazis that now occupy it. Wake up, America. The clock is ticking.

Sid Locksley
via e-mail

Not the good George Lucas kind
America has already spent over $130 billion on Star Wars. Now Congress wants to spend $10 billion more on the program this year.

And what do we have to show for this? Nothing.

In the most simple tests, the Star Wars does not work consistently. And scientists believe that, in the complex real world, our enemies could fool Star Wars with dummy warheads.

With the deficit soaring, it seems that we should not throw good money after bad. Let’s cut our losses. Congress should stop funding Star Wars.

Aome St. Laurence
South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Harsh words
We concur with the philosophy of the Green Party but find third party candidates problematic, as they serve merely as “spoilers” in our electoral process.

Although the recent Gore victory was stolen at the polls and awarded to G.W. Bush by five Supreme Court “Justices,” this misfortune would not have occurred without the candidacy of Ralph Nader.

Now we have the worst president ever. He should be tried in an international court for his illegal pre-emptive war against Iraq. He could share a defense lawyer with Saddam Hussein.

Nader’s first run has diminished the fine efforts of his early career. If Nader’s megalomaniacal new candidacy re-elects megalomaniacal Bush and his D.C. Axis of Evil, Nader’s legacy will become infamous.Walden and Betty Joura

Reno

Secrecy rules
George “Doublespeak” Bush on May 8 said, “In a free society there will be transparency in the process. In societies run by tyrants, you never see the truth.”

Is this guy the king of irony or what? We’ve got the Cheney Energy Task Force kept secret from us for years. Blockage of the 9/11 Commission’s access to presidential documents. Covering up the true cost of the Medicare drug plan, with possible criminal threats involved. Blocking access to photos of fallen soldiers’ coffins and to data on the suicide rate of our soldiers. Indefinitely detained Americans whose access to the law is blocked. Iraqi prisoner abuse, which Paul Bremer says he knew about since January, photographed and released by the press, not the Pentagon. Behind closed doors no-bid contracts with corrupt crony corporation Halliburton. Withholding of 28 pages of the joint injury report implicating Bush’s Saudi buddies in 9/11. Not releasing data on Saudis, including members of the bin Laden family, being flown out of the country after 9/11, while ordinary Americans were grounded. And we still don’t have full disclosure of Bush’s draft-dodging, drinking days.

The list goes on and on. The one thing that’s transparent is that honesty, integrity and responsibility are lacking in the Bush White House. Billions of dollars, thousands of Iraqi lives and hundreds of American lives gone as a result of this hubris. “In societies run by tyrants …” How appropriate coming from the chicken-hawk who calls himself the war president.

Eric M. Hitchcock
Chico, Calif.

Gas through the nose
While people across the country are paying through the nose to put gas in their cars and the cost of food and other merchandise climbs through the roof, one would think that George Bush would be trying to do something to alleviate the situation. It has been strongly advised that oil be released from the National Reserve.

Although our first instinct is to blame the Saudis for our problem, a close investigation will reveal the true cause of the sudden explosion in gasoline prices. George is busy purchasing oil from his oil company buddies to restock the National Reserve. What’s going on? His action in competing for the purchase of oil is raising the price even further. He will probably release quantities of this oil and persuade the Saudis to pump more oil, weeks before his election, to make it look as though he is benefiting us.

Personally, I’ve had it watching Social Security and other domestic programs being slashed to pay for George’s boondoggles. His spendthrift style with our money to line the pockets of his friends and contributors is a disgrace, and he will not get my vote!

John T. Vickers
via e-mail