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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Letters to the Editor

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    Environmental
    Word Spreading
    Thanks are due to the three gentlemen who took the trouble to research and debunk the assertions made in an earlier letter by Ken Johnson. Mark Twain famously said, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on." Front organizations like the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine and the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, neither of which I had ever heard of, are typically funded by major polluters and often have little if anything to do with science, medicine, physicians or surgeons, or for that matter with the state of Oregon.
    It's interesting to note, however, that even the biggest corporations have recently had a change of heart regarding their resistance to facing our environmental problems. General Electric and others are prodding the government to adopt some sort of uniform national environmental policy. The corporations say they would actually be better able to compete globally if substantive measures were taken. Even Exxon-Mobil has fired a small company it employed for years to produce misinformation. And people across the political and religious spectrum are recognizing the seriousness of the threat to our planet.
    JOHN MIHELICH
    Estancia
    Bhutto's Killing
    Leaves Questions
    WORKING BEHIND the scenes for months, the Bush administration paved the way for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan last October. How odd then that, having achieved its objective, it also sealed her fate when the U.S. failed to insist on or implement an effective ongoing security program to protect a personality on whom millions pinned their hopes and on whom future U.S. foreign policy initiatives allegedly depended.
    Although many in Washington no doubt would disagree, Bhutto's assassination was no accident. Her death last year was inevitable, a foregone conclusion which, when it occurred, punctuated the end to yet another half-baked scheme by Washington that again defines how utterly reckless and reprehensible this administration's foreign policy initiatives often are.
    As new details surrounding her death are squeezed out of Islamabad (without help from Washington), it will be entertaining to observe the bob and weave tactics the White House cooks up to divert interest in why Benazir Bhutto's assassination occurred so long after her return to Pakistan. On the other hand, we shouldn't be surprised if it was perhaps expected much sooner.
    BOB CUMMING
    Cedar Crest
    Government Has
    Shackled Liberty
    The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution states that we have the right to life, liberty and property. Thomas Jefferson said when government fears the people, it's liberty. But when the people fear the government it's tyranny.
    Today, the American people fear the government. We now live under a police state that controls every facet of everyone's life. One goes to school to learn a trade of sorts, then he must get a license or government permission to work at what he went to school for. Then, he must give the government a large portion of his income, so in effect, he is working for the government.
    You think you own property, but it belongs to the government. Stop paying rent to the government in the form of taxes and see how long you keep it. If you want to build on your property, you must get a permit. If it's your property, why must you get the patron's permission to build on your property? you get a permit and build your dream house, the government demands that you pay $100 a month or more rent in the form of taxes to the patron. If you refuse, the patron will send thugs to take your house and sell it to someone else.
    Thomas Jefferson stated, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and for government to gain ground." Thanks to Democrats, this is true. The Democrats push for bigger government and less liberty for you and me. Everyone and everything should be controlled by the government. They have saddled us with regulations on hiring, firing, accounting, smoking, eating and life in general. Government regulations create high prices, low quality products and shortages.
    The Republicans took control of Congress in 1994 by saying Democrats created a government too big and controlling. After 12 years in power, the Republicans created a government even more intrusive and greedy to control our lives.
    This country was founded on the concept of small limited government to protect the liberties of the individual, this no longer exist. Thomas Jefferson and other signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives and fortunes to liberty. Twelve signers had their homes ransacked and burned by the British. I think it's time for Americans to take note of this:
    Soon we will be voting on who steals from us, I hope this letter will get people thinking.
    JAMES DEMAREST
    Edgewood