1/15

Leaving our morals at the gate

The repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that now allows homosexuals to openly serve in the military is bringing out the medieval in some of the letters to the editor. A retired master gunnery sergeant ("Courage and commitment," Jan. 9) opens his invective against DADT with straight-out hate speech, stating that gay people "embrace a lifestyle that is unhealthy, anti-family, biologically wrong and morally corrupt." All hate speech is basically irrational fear spoken out loud. And this guy is really afraid.

The phrase in the letter that left me the coldest was "we will be required to leave our moral values and Judeo-Christian beliefs at the gate of Camp Pendleton." With our continuous illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and our "targeted assassinations" of perceived enemies in foreign nations, I sort of thought we had already left all our morals at the gates to America itself.

The rest of humanity doesn't spend all of its blood and treasure on foreign occupations and an obscenely bloated military. We engage in the worst kind of imperialism using force of arms and profess a shrill religiously based hatred of anything judged non-American. We are a mentally ill nation.

Eric Parish

Vista

2/8

A laugh a minute

George W. Bush may have been an ex-president for the last two years, but he will still always be my top No. 1 war-criminal comedian. He kept us all in stitches for eight whole years. Just the mention of the word "Guantanamo" brings to my mind his smirking face trying to say "nuclear" or "mushroom cloud."

Torture, renditions, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Iraqis — you name it, he's done it.

So it was with grim amusement that I read the recent story of Dubya's canceled speech in Switzerland. The United Israel Appeal scrapped a plan to showcase President George W. Bush at a Feb. 12 gala in Geneva after reports that human rights groups were ready to protest and file a torture complaint. It seems the protesters were asking their supporters to "bring an extra pair of shoes."

Since he had to cancel that speech, I recommend that G.W. visit the Netherlands on his next comedy foreign speech tour. He could invite his good buddy Hosni Mubarak to join him. I hear there are stunning museums in the Hague.

Eric Parish

Vista

March 2

It's not going to be our oil

The underlying cause of most of America's trouble is quite simple to explain, really. In 2009, the United States produced 11 percent of the world's petroleum — and consumed 22 percent. That's a lot of oil for use by less than 5 percent of the world's population.

Other countries also want to use oil sometimes. That's why we have the most expensive military in the history of the world. That's why our 5th Fleet is stationed in Bahrain. That's why we invaded and still occupy Iraq and its oil fields. That's why the Sunday North County Times always has lots of photos of soldiers in wheelchairs.

This addiction to other peoples' petroleum has completely militarized our world outlook. We now use our military almost solely to aggressively squeeze out those last few drops from the rapidly collapsing world oil pie. Our soldiers remain permanently stationed on or near some of the richest oil reserves left in the world.

The coming of peoples' democracies to the Middle East does not mean we can still keep their oil for our corporations and cars and industries, as we did when they were ruled by corrupted royalty and military strongmen. It means just the opposite.

Eric Parish

Vista

Community Forum (wasn’t printed)

Back the Unions 

 

 Someone has to say this about the big business slant of the North County Times these days. Since I haven't read anyone else stand up and speak out, I shall remind us all of the contributions of labor to this great country of ours. I understand that we here in southern California are not exactly overflowing with that labor union spirit. I notice it especially in this very newspaper. Labor unions have been all over the news lately since the governor of Wisconsin has decided to ban collective bargaining in the Wisconsin public sector unions. This weekend the NCT has been posting nonstop anti-union screeds on its editorial pages. If one didn't know better, you would think union wages have destroyed the American economy, especially in North County. Brian Brady starts out writing in a Friday Forum that labor must lower its demands. Wisconsin Governor Walker thinks this demand should be collective bargaining itself, that idea that basically made unions. On Sunday there were three - count them - columns against those nasty labor unions.  These apologists for business say it must and has to be those greedy unions that are destroying our economy. It couldn't be the non-stop wars we are waging, could it? Or the tax-breaks for every business that owns its own congressman?

 Although, you would think in an area where undocumented strawberry and flower pickers are routinely seen on Interstate 5 by commuters every single day, we would by now know how the labor market works. Cheap labor means cheap strawberries and large company profits. Unions mean more money and better conditions for labor. We can guess which side the NCT seems to be on. If the NCT would just print one single pro-labor column, I wouldn't be here writing this one. As a tool of advertising and business in general, the opinions of this paper are very suspect. Without advertising from businesses, this paper would be broke and Kent Davy would be looking for another job. I hope everyone takes all these North County Times editorials with the grain of salt they deserve. Labor unions have historically proven themselves as somewhat of a leveler in the never ending war between the landed gentry and us peasants. To paraphrase for union supporters and Americans in general, "surrender is not an option". The NCT, as it does when it tells us who to vote for in elections, goes with the money. This country is better than that. And we all know better.

 

March 18

Standing with Planned Parenthood

Title X of the Public Health Services Act became law in 1970 under President Richard Nixon to provide family planning services. In 2010, Congress appropriated $317 million total for Title X family planning.

The House of Representatives passed the Pence Amendment to the current budget bill on Feb. 18. This purposely cuts all funding for Planned Parenthood and is another slap in the face to poor people in general and women in particular.

One in 5 American women has been to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood provides sexual and reproductive health care, education and information to more than 5 million women, men and adolescents worldwide each year. Three million women and men in the United States annually visit Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers.

Because Planned Parenthood includes abortion and contraception, it has been singled out by those in our society who think a fertilized human egg is more important than a woman. They think the state should step in and force pregnancies to be carried to term, no matter what. It seems this is what our Congressman Darrell Issa believes.

Thankfully, we have two reality-based female senators in California. I stand with Planned Parenthood against this assault on women's health care.

Eric Parish

Vista

4/2

The blame game

I see that Tommy Chanick is still writing his anti-Mexican letters to the editor "Why our state is broke," March 28. I never did quite understand why some people look around our paradise here in Southern California and think there are too many Mexican-looking people.

I used to think maybe they were all newly transplanted from Wisconsin or Minnesota — places where the demographics are different. Or maybe they grew up in an all-vanilla suburb somewhere and just never saw anyone who looked different from them or their friends. Or maybe they flunked geography and don't realize how close Mexico really is.

But ever since the Minutemen started acting out their hatred, I think this scapegoating of Mexicans has just become a bandwagon that mixed-up, unhappy people get to hop on.

This country most assuredly has problems. We now have the Bush/Obama recession and three wars going on in the Mideast. Class warfare is heating up, as America's richest gobble up more and more while the poor sometimes don't even get the crumbs. I guess people who know no better need someone or somebody to blame that they can actually see.

Eric Parish

Vista

4/18

Invasion is not defense

The fiction that our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan somehow have something to do with protecting us from Islamic terrorism is still being promoted in the North County Times editorial pages ("Their sacrifices," April 15). Most people I know do believe the United States is "worth defending". We find ourselves constantly trying to defend the rights of our female citizens to health care without the intrusive religious ravings of some. We have to defend minority citizens from blatant racism masked as anti-crime statutes.

But hardly anyone I have talked to thinks that these eight-year-long occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have been honorable or necessary. Invading countries for power and resources is as evil a concept as I can imagine. We disgrace humanity with our greed. And these wars are so one-sided. I find it hard to feel proud of soldiers who have been occupying nations for years, with the ability to bomb and strafe wherever they want, kill whoever they want, and take whatever they want.

And the Iraqis and Afghans who fight back suddenly become "terrorists." We still seem to forget that defending ourselves by invading other countries (with oil) on the other side of the globe is ugly lunacy.

Eric Parish

Vista

4/25/11

Response to letter writer's rubbish

I was waiting for someone else to respond to Eric Parish's inane letter (April 18) that outright accuses our brave men and women in uniform of war crimes. "Bomb and strafe whoever they want, kill whoever they want, and take whatever they want."

The audacity of this "intellectual" to conveniently leave out the fact that it is a multinational force, not just the U.S. The fact that these men and women are giving their lives so he can sit around and talk rubbish because it is his right. A right, incidentally, that he has because people have always been willing to defend this country and protect his sorry posterior.

Apparently, he also forgot that we were attacked and approximately 3,000 people lost their lives, and international intelligence groups linked it directly to Afghanistan-based terrorism. Invasion? I suppose we "invaded" Japan in World War II.

My son joined the Marines to protect this country, not randomly kill, strafe, steal or any other ridiculous fantasy that Mr. Parish can come up with. He may not like the decisions made by politicians like President Obama and President Bush, but the military goes where it's told and does the job it is told to do.

Bryan Boos

Murrieta

4/26/11

War is good for business

"Pentagon spending in San Diego County ballooned to $18.2 billion in fiscal year 2009," said the North County Times front page on Thursday ("Region sees huge increase in Pentagon spending," April 21).

The local military boosters are ecstatic about our region's "booming" economy. But they are warning of the future and severe strains in our area if we should ever have to cut military spending. We are so lucky to live in a place where war profiteering and training our young people to kill are such a great benefit to our economy.

On the front page, above this glowing report on the local military-industrial complex, was a more personal story ("Wounded platoon leader greets men who saved his life after Afghanistan blast," April 21). After occupying Afghanistan for their required eight months, a returning group of Marines was greeted by the wounded one who came home early. That war is about to heat up again, as spring is here and those pesky Afghans still don't appreciate all we are doing for them.

I remember Vietnam, and it was the Vietnamese people themselves who finally had to rise up and throw our behinds out of their country. I guess the same will have to happen in the Middle East. We sure don't act like we are ever going to leave on our own. It wouldn't be "good business."

Eric Parish

Vista

5/4

Kill them all

In our determination to protect innocent civilians in Libya, North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces attacked Tripoli on April 30 and killed Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son and three grandchildren — blew them to pieces. This is what we do these days.

We have been killing innocent civilians in the Middle East for decades. We also continue to send million-dollar Predator missiles to blow up family compounds in Pakistan, killing women and children in the name of (our) freedom (to buy oil).

I consider our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan to be festering, ongoing war crimes. And we — the citizens of the U.S. — are responsible for all these murders. I have an idea about Gadhafi, that perennial arch-enemy of the oil companies and the CIA. Let's blanket the entire city of Tripoli with cluster bombs, white phosphorous explosions and then finally napalm. This should kill him and everyone related to him once and for all and at last end the killing of innocent civilians — at least in Tripoli.

Then another small portion of the Middle East will once again know true Western-type Christian peace.

Eric Parish

Vista

5/16/11

It's time to leave

Some people believe that our torture of captured suspects at Guantanamo Bay and the renditions and torture of others worldwide finally led us to track down and kill Osama bin Laden. Only took 10 years. Unfortunately, there were also those hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and Afghans that we killed and are still killing.

Did we kill them all on the off-chance they might someday have something to do with another attack on the homeland? As of March 2011, there were 47,000 U.S. soldiers still in Iraq, guarding our oil. There are 100,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, costing billions of dollars a month. I have no idea what they are doing. Killing the "enemy"? Protecting us from "Sharia" law? Testing new military hardware? Or is it still about the oil companies and the pipelines they need through Afghanistan into the Central Asian oil fields?

Whatever we claim are the reasons, it is long past time to leave. Osama bin Laden is dead. How many more years do our soldiers kill people in the Middle East? Give them all medals and parades and bring them home — now.

Eric Parish

Vista

5/18/11

What happened to professional journalism?

The May 13 North County Times had not only one Associated Press article reprinted twice, it had two. Page A-4, "McCain: Torture did not aid in finding bin Laden" by Donna Cassata reappeared again on page A21.

Then on page A7 was an article by Kathy Gannon, "Accounts piece together bin Laden's fugitive trail," and it appeared again on page A21. Slow news day?

Professional journalism is becoming an oxymoron. In addition, the Crews-Pulse-Parrish triumvirate appear as if they were regular contributors. They must have a schedule between them so that at least one of them is printed just about every week. Are they experts in every field, or did they learn to write on those hand-held signs that we saw when we came back from Vietnam? Well, they have that "right," but I think they forget that those "rights" were and are still being paid for by brave men and women who wear the military uniform.

These are only two reasons I am going to cancel my subscription and only take the weekly TV listing section, which is usually, but not always, accurate.

Harry Penny

San Marcos

5/26

GOP not doing much with ideas

The current Republican majority in the House of Representatives has been loud in its criticism of President Obama and the Democrats' plan to end this Bush recession. Using federal money to build infrastructure nationwide and giving money to the states to help them with their budget problems seems a reasonable way to get this economy going again. And it seems to be slowly working.

People sometimes forget what a mess President Obama was left with when he began this job two years ago. So what have the Republicans done with their new House majority? Well, we have the Paul Ryan plan to privatize Medicare — an idea guaranteed to make the elderly and anyone who plans to someday be elderly shake their head with amazement. And think of all the money the Republicans want to save by gutting women's health care — Planned Parenthood funds, for instance.

Locally, we have our ooh-rah congressman, Duncan Hunter, a.k.a. "Junior," having a hissy fit about the naming of a naval vessel for Cesar Chavez, a genuine California legend. With ideas like this, it's no wonder people hate politicians. At least there will be no "U.S.S. Jane Fonda" on Congressman Hunter's watch.

Eric Parish

Vista

6/10

A satirical letter

Our Afghan puppet President Hamid Karzai is complaining again about our war policies. It seems we keep dropping bombs on his nation's houses at night and we blow up lots of innocent people ---- women, babies, whatever. Doesn't he realize that more of our guys would die if we actually had to make sure we were killing the people who really hate us?

After a decade of this, almost everyone there hates us by now anyway, so we are probably blowing up someone who would really like us dead anyway ---- except the babies, of course. These Afghans also don't seem to understand, just like the Palestinians in the West Bank, that constant patrols and checkpoints are the signs of our true Orwellian freedoms. You know ---- war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength ---- the basics. Alas, since Afghanistan doesn't have the oil like Iraq, we won't get to keep as many giant military bases there when President Obama declares the Afghan war officially "over." Anyway, I can't wait for this war to be done so we can get on with Libya. And tell President Karzai to shove it.

Eric Parish

Vista

6/28/11

Just peace ---- forget the honor

I have been waiting for President Obama's speech about his plan to get us out of Afghanistan. I was sadly disappointed to hear the same old "slow and careful drawdown" argument I first heard back in 1968 ---- the year that began President Nixon's bloody "peace with honor" legacy in Vietnam.

Keeping about 65,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan after the end of 2012 isn't exactly my idea for ending this current debacle. Obama and his generals are also talking about the Iraqis wishing to "request" that some of those 46,000 U.S. soldiers still in that country remain after December 2011. That's the cutoff date when all U.S. soldiers are supposed to leave Iraq. Honest.

I just want to remind President Obama that Democratic presidents are allowed to end wars without appearing weak on defense. Even some of the tea party, deficit hawk Republicans are having second thoughts on the costs of this kind of nonstop, perpetual war. I say to them, "Welcome to the correct side, and where have you guys been for the last 10 years?"

Our disastrous Middle East policy needs real change now, Mr. President.

Eric Parish

Vista

July 8

Let's all move to Texas

What a silly and obnoxious little tirade in the Perspective section on July 3 ("It's time to polish the Golden State," by Gary Gonsalves). Mr. Gonsalves starts out trying to make a statement about California businesses moving off to wonderful places like Texas, where they won't have to pay state income taxes.

His little rant ends by accusing progressives, and anyone else who wants a working government, of being "parasites" sucking up the wealth generated by all the hard-working conservatives like himself. I always wonder about the people who actually believe this junk. Do they think we should just watch as the poor, infirm and elderly suffer this recession out on the streets of our America? Private industry craves greed and profits, not the public welfare. Our modern capitalism needs strong government regulation and oversight. I trust the public more than I trust British Petroleum or Goldman Sachs.

On the front page of that paper was a concrete result of the conservatives' "no taxes ever" ideas, a huge 20 percent cut to California's higher education budget ("CA college students brace for state budget cuts," July 3). Eight years of Bush tax cuts, corporate welfare and deregulation have caused our current economic mess. We can't be serious about wanting to go back to that.

Eric Parish

Vista

July 17

Kirk living in a fantasy world

Woe is us. Richard Kirk, once again, wishes we were living in his fantasy 1960s "Leave It To Beaver" world ("Socking it to the gringos," July 7). First off, Kirk spends half his column talking about a soccer game in Los Angeles and the perceived slights against the good old U.S.A. that some L.A. Times writer thought the largely Hispanic crowd exhibited. I will bet a million bucks that Kirk was not at this soccer game. Call it a hunch.

It actually hurt to hear Kirk talk about an L.A. in 1960 that was "an overwhelming Anglo town." I think what he meant to say is that little white suburban kids back in 1960 were so totally segregated from other races and cultures that they knew no better ---- some of them even to this day. Their parents sure didn't bring up the embarrassing fact that everyone wasn't white ---- even though it looked like it at school.

Some of us have bought into the idea that those were the "good old days." Not me. What Kirk calls "multiculturalism," I call "knowledge." We all try to learn about and from the mistakes made by our parents and grandparents. Grow up, Kirk.

Eric Parish

Vista

July 29, 2011

 Hiroshima anniversary

This coming Aug. 6 marks the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. At least 90,000 were killed there and another 60,000 died when Nagasaki was destroyed three days later. Almost all were civilians.

I have heard the stories about how many American lives were supposedly saved by these bombings. This is our excuse for the first and only use of atomic weapons in wartime. I once believed it, too. My dad fought in World War II, so we must have been on the side of the good back then, right?

An opinion poll from 1944 found that 13 percent of all Americans were in favor of the complete extermination of every single living Japanese man, woman and child. I came of age during our slaughter in Vietnam. That changed all my beliefs about the idea of a good and moral America. Our continuous military occupations in the Middle East for oil resources hasn't changed my mind back either.

Nothing we teach our children reflects the true evil this nation has embraced by turning to armed aggression as foreign policy. I hear the booming from Camp Pendleton constantly these days. May God have mercy on our souls.

Eric Parish

Vista

8/4

U.S. is most humane, giving nation in history

Every year around this time, it seems that we always hear from some sob sister (Eric Parish, July 29) bemoaning the fact that America used atomic weapons to end World War II. Eric Parish does not believe the "stories" of how thousands of American lives were saved by not having to invade Japan to end the war after their unprovoked bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Maybe if Parish had served his country instead of "coming of age" during Vietnam, he would have a better grasp of the freedoms that must be fought for. He continues on to tell us his feelings about America ---- that we are immoral and evil.

I also hear artillery practice from Camp Pendleton, and I am thankful for it.

But wait, haven't I read Parish's anti-American rants before in the North County Times? Why does Eric live in America? Why doesn't he move to a "kinder," "gentler" nation?

Finally, God will have mercy on our souls, as the most humane, giving nation in history.

Norman Hoskins

Fallbrook

8/13

Empires never last forever

This past Aug. 6 was the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Nagasaki was destroyed three days later. More than 150,000 Japanese civilian lives were snuffed out. These two cities were targeted especially because they had not been bombed before by our massive-at-the-time fire-bombing of Japan ---- look it up.

The photos of vaporized Japanese schoolgirls were censored from the American public at the time. Jubilant Americans never saw little old Japanese ladies dying slowly and painfully from radiation burns. We were taught that this first and only use of atom bombs in warfare was necessary because it saved the lives of American soldiers who would have died if we had had to invade Japan. I would call that unprovable propaganda. Think about it. Read the history.

I am constantly ashamed of this war-mongering nation of ours, as we all should be. Our country still has an official first-use policy with atomic weapons. We claim we can legally blow up anything we want, anywhere we want with atomic bombs. Empires will never last forever. Even ours.

Eric Parish

Vista

August 20

 

No other country has done more to benefit society

Pity poor Eric Parish (Aug. 13). Obviously, he is the product of a dysfunctional educational system more concerned with multiculturalism than American exceptionalism.

Apparently, he has never studied the complete history of World War II, including the Japanese quest for imperialism during that era. I wonder if he has any concept of the Japanese code of bushido? Did he ever learn about the rape of Nanking? In truth, the deployment of nuclear weapons saved many tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Japanese and American lives.

Poor Mr. Parish is living here in a country he hates. I wonder why he does not leave? I would gladly start a campaign to collect money for his one-way departure. More than wondering why he hates America so much, I wonder what utopian country he would go to if he did leave? I am personally not aware of any country that has done more to benefit society than America. Maybe Mr. Parish could enlighten me with some examples.

Peter Freundlich

Oceanside

8/25/11

Pity those who can't grasp America's greatness

I feel sorrow for people like Eric Parish (Aug. 13), for they have never grasped America's greatness and that which they so venomously denounce. Wars are horrible things, but inevitable when the world is surrounded by evil, and evil must also be confronted by acts that appear to be evil, when in reality, they are simply consequences of such prior horrors. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan was such a consequence. It was not done with malice or evil intent, as some would believe, but with much prayer and reservations by those in authority.

I have felt sorrow also for those who had to make that decision, and though it cost thousands of lives and suffering, it preserved the freedoms we now observe to criticize such decisions.

I served in both WWII and Korea, and only believed that if evil was not confronted by maximum force, we would not survive. We are not perfect, for there are those internally and externally who wish us harm, but that too is an evil that must be overcome, for we were founded as a "city on a hill" with aspirations of peace.

I wish Mr. Parish had "served" to gain that perspective.

Irvin Forbing

Escondido

8/26/11

Thinking beyond our own shores is OK

Peter Freundlich (Aug. 20) goes to some lengths to disparage Eric Parish's take on the U.S. dropping of atomic weapons on two Japanese cities in the waning days of World War II (Aug. 13).

I suggest Mr. Freundlich might still stuffer from U.S. fallout perpetrated at the time to reason or rationalize the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a military necessity. Most historians agree Japan was a starving, defeated nation by August 1945 and fretfully preparing surrender terms. ...

The "benefit to society" Mr. Freundlich touts might just depend on which end of the bomb you're on (see: Vietnam, Iraq, etc.). Possibly the men, women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't the only ones that "bought it."

One can rightfully vilify Japanese atrocities, but then to acrobatically turn a blind eye to the vaporization of two large civilian populations? Exceptionalism? Or jingoism?

We can argue multiculturalism versus American exceptionalism, but one cannot argue the world is now a smaller place. Thinking beyond our own shores should not be deemed dysfunctional.

I realize it may be hard for some to unlearn history, but I see no reason to ship Mr. Parish off to another country for expecting more from his own. This "love it or leave it" mentality I can only hope we've evolved beyond as a nation and a more enlightened people.

Tony Walker

Escondido

 

2/28

Writer is misleading readers

Eric Parish (Aug. 13) calls President Harry Truman’s rationale for dropping two A-bombs on Japan in 1945 “unprovable propaganda.”

“Read the history,” Parish says.

Even a glance through the Wikipedia article on the subject is enough to show that Parish misleads, either ignorantly or willfully. He’s simply voiced one side in a major historical controversy, and his side is a classic case of second-guessing a tough decision.

Truman’s military advisers recommended the invasion of Japan as necessary to compel Japan to stop the conflict it started by attacking Pearl Harbor in 1941. Large numbers of Japanese soldiers chose suicidal banzai attacks rather than surrender as American forces captured Pacific islands. At Okinawa, 1,900 kamikaze planes, fueled just for one-way suicide flights, crashed into 177 American ships.

So this invasion of Japan probably meant fighting city by city, building by building, room by room. A million American military deaths and far more Japanese deaths, military and civilian, was a realistic assessment of the likely cost. Truman waited three days after the horrific destruction at Hiroshima before he authorized the attack on Nagasaki. Yet even then it took the courageous personal intervention of the Japanese emperor to persuade his military to surrender.

Howard Killion

Oceanside

9/17/11

Evil is good if we do it

Irvin Forbing (Aug. 25) feels sorrow for Eric Parish (Aug. 13) because Parish denounces U.S. evil, while Forbing supports it and tries to make our evil pig respectable. Forbing's letter is just more nonsense, like his letters on biblical mythology.

Forbing says he served in Korea. What the U.S. did in Korea after World War II was outright criminal. After suffering 45 years under Japanese rule, the U.S. and Russia agreed to divide Korea, instead of giving the whole peninsula back to the Koreans, and we put in our puppet Syngman Rhee, who was living in the U.S., who would serve our imperial ambitions, despite the Korean people's objections. Does this sound familiar?

Rhee killed tens of thousands of the Koreans opposed to his rule, while the U.S. looked the other way. Unifying Korea was what the Korean war was about, but Forbing is clueless about that. Maybe Forbing can tell us what great evil the Iraqis did to deserve all of that death and destruction. It is Forbing and his ilk who support our right to invade other countries and murder its inhabitants at will. Evil is good if we do it.

Chris Pulse

Vista 

9/18/11

Irrational hatred of gay people

S.B. 48 adds lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the list of social and ethnic groups whose "roles and contributions" California public schools must include in California and U.S. history. The North County Times wrote ("Calif gay history referendum faces uphill battle," Sept. 4) that conservative Christians are trying to get an initiative on the ballot to repeal our new law.

Unlike Proposition 8, however, the Mormons and Catholics "have not joined the effort to qualify the gay history referendum for the June 2012 ballot." If the NCT is trying to reassure those of us who support gay rights in California, this won't do it. It wasn't that long ago that sodomy was a crime you did jail time for in America. Our own failed Briggs Initiative in 1978 would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California public schools.

Shrill voices of hatred will not be able to roll back history, no matter what they imagine Jesus said about being gay, which wasn't much, by the way. Public bigotry and second-class citizenship for our gay brothers and sisters is not acceptable and will be viewed as the irrational hatred it truly is.

Eric Parish

Vista

9/30/11

God watches all

It was nice to see the standing ovations for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the United Nations General Assembly recently. I wish him luck in trying to bring his country into being.

Living as we do in the U.S.A., we get a warped and one-sided view of politics in the Middle East. The Palestinian people have been so dissatisfied with lack of progress in their 44-year-old occupation by Israel that they are begging the United Nations to just declare them a nation.

It won't happen, not with a certain U.S. veto. And peace talks there will never even begin until the end of Israeli settlement building in Jerusalem and on Palestinian land in the West Bank ---- which Israel says won't happen. But it is inspirational to watch the righteous and their heroic fight against Israeli intransigence and raw military power. Do you think God/Allah/Jehovah is watching?

Eric Parish

Vista

10/3 

Japan responsible for WWII

Eric Parish is in over his head again (Aug. 13). We did not attack Japan. They attacked us at Pearl Harbor, sinking four battleships, plus other damages. We lost 2,402 men and 1,282 wounded. There are 1,177 more still at the bottom of the Arizona.

Fortunately, we had a real man in charge who knew what action to take. None of us like the atomic bomb, but it sure shortened the war with Japan and saved many American soldiers lives from ground fighting. It also showed the world to beware. It was because of (the Pearl Harbor) attack that Germany and Italy declared war on us. Though I never voted for Franklin Roosevelt, he was no coward, such as we have had with Democrats.

By the way, I was married to a lieutenant commander and had two children during the war.

My sympathy also goes to the men who flew the mission to drop the atomic bomb. I had a cousin who flew one of the planes. It was a hard thing to live with the rest of ones' life.

To those wanting a repeal of the Bush tax cuts, it will include everyone who pays taxes, as the bill was all inclusive. By the way, "we" rebuilt Japan, as we did Germany, France and Italy.

Bettie Heldring

Escondido

10/16

Can't ignore the coming train wreck

Many people worldwide are finally starting to notice how that big lake of oil that humans have been burning up faster and faster is not an infinite resource and is getting scarcer. As world population grows and all of our energy needs shoot skyward, many have just decided to ignore this coming train wreck.

People need to start thinking about how our children and grandchildren are going to live in a world of shrinking resources. Some think wars and a huge military will keep us going like we are now. Others believe we can somehow invent a magical new source of fuel for our cars and wasteful economies. It won't happen.

In reality, we will have only a couple of decades to peacefully "power down" the way we live and work in order to get to a more sustainable level we can all survive at. There is only one Earth and one lake of oil. That lake is draining fast and warming the planet to boot. Continuous growth is not a real option for humanity right now.

Unless and until we change, our children will see only the Four Horsemen. I would rather not have that happen.

Eric Parish

Vista

10/24/11

The real train wreck

The letter, "Can't ignore the coming train wreck," Oct. 16, claims that the world is running out of oil, calling it the coming train wreck. Where does this nonsense come from?

The U.S. alone has untapped reserves that are estimated to be sufficient to meet our energy needs for 100 to 300 years. The Bakken fields in the Dakotas, the Outer Continental Shelf, ANWR and numerous tar sands, plus oil shale, additional deposits in Colorado and Wyoming, etc., amount to an estimated 2.3 trillion barrels of oil and a value of $187 trillion (versus a national debt of $14 trillion) ("The only way out for the American economy," March 4, www.americanthinker.com).

The truth is that there is an abundance of domestic energy available if President Obama wanted to provide millions of jobs and end the recession. He does not. He is deliberately delaying permits to reopen gulf drilling sites, has shut down drilling in Alaska, opposes permits for new nuclear plants and has boasted his energy plan will put the coal industry out of business. Obama also has watched oil rigs being relocated from the gulf to Brazil because he has refused to allow the resumption of drilling.

The green energy scandals prove that we need fossil fuels to save our economy. Environmentalism is the real train wreck.

Josef Horowitz

Escondido

10/28

Era of cheap resources over

Many people are in deep denial over the end of cheap resources ("The real train wreck," Oct. 24). This era of cheap fossil fuels is over. Unlimited growth is not an option anymore. Currently, we are slaves to cheap oil and gas. We can't even grow our food without it. It affects our entire world view.

Will we face the future with our current military bloodlust, as an empire trying to forever occupy the Middle Eastern oil fields? Will we spend our blood and treasure searching out those very last drops to burn in our fuel-guzzling SUVs?

American geophysicist M. King Hubbert created a model that he used to forecast when the production of oil and other resources would peak. His results were alarming. He was not optimistic when he wrote, "Our principal constraints are cultural. During the last two centuries we have known nothing but exponential growth and in parallel we have evolved what amounts to an exponential-growth culture, a culture so heavily dependent upon the continuance of exponential growth for its stability that it is incapable of reckoning with problems of nongrowth."

We need sustainability for our future. What are we going to do without fossil fuels?

Eric Parish

 

10/31

The pot calling the kettle black

In response to Patrick Frawley's missive (Oct. 27), I would also point out "we are that much more often exposed to the rantings" of the likes of Patrick himself, the Crews boys, Eric Parish, Douglas Dunn, Connie Frankowiak, Margaret Liles and Sorab Ghandhi, just to name a few.

I suggest Mr. Frawley should think about the "hatred" some of the above-mentioned writers have for the U.S. and address that also. However, that will not happen. Why not?

Mark Ruhm

Escondido 

11/8

Military needs higher pay

It is disgusting that the 1 percent of our society here in Camp Pendleton and in our other military bases countrywide are doing the dirty work of occupation in our overseas oil fields. The disgusting part is how little they are paid. Mercenaries usually get top wages. Private contractors get big bucks nowadays.

They are trained and prepared for overseas sorties like this. They have to jump into those planes going overseas somewhere ---- and kill something or someone for oil. Go America! So why aren't our Marines living in those condos next to the pier, eh? Why don't they "occupy" Oceanside like those commie protesters are doing? Why do we use our youngest and most ill-informed 18-year-olds to do our foreign policy these days? We should at least pay them big-time wages.

God bless America.

Eric Parish

Vista

Making God Bless America Week a national holiday

Fond memories of the late Ralph Stewart of Rancho Bernardo recur every year to me at this time. For those who don't know, Stewart was very instrumental in reviving God Bless America Week (Nov. 20 - Nov. 27) in all of San Diego and our nation. He was honored, not too long before he died in 2006, by the San Diego City Council for his efforts.

It was the wish of this gentle man to have the week of Thanksgiving be designated for this celebration. The intent was simple: to honor our country and those who fought, and continue to fight, for our freedom. It was his wish for everyone to fly their American flags to show their patriotism.

So please, fly your star-spangled banner the week of Thanksgiving in his honor and to honor our great country and its heroes. One day, perhaps, this week will be a national holiday, as Stewart wished. If anyone can help me pursue his dream and make this a national holiday, please let me know. God bless America.

Mary Karscig

San Diego

11/16/11

Consider the possibilities

Alecia Tilch and Eric Parish (Nov. 8) got me thinking with their valid points about firemen, police officers, doctors, military and pastors. I would expand this list to the Border Patrol, CIA, FBI, TSA and any other government agency providing safety and security.

Military people are highly suited for these jobs and so are their families. My solution would be to hire only ex-military and refuse to hire anyone else. Combine their military time and grade with these jobs, and many of our problems are solved, including lack of jobs for veterans. It is a logical career path and would make recruiting a piece of cake with no added cost.

Why not hire the proven best instead of the Keystone Kops in Fullerton?

Peter Murnieks

Vista

11/19/11

He hates Veterans Day

I hate Veterans Day, or as it used to be called, Armistice Day. World War I was the first modern war ---- flesh-shredding machine guns, bombs from the sky, real "modern" warfare. War became something different back then ---- industrialized.

Today, our nation uses robot aircraft to blow up people in other countries, push-button style. The problem is not that this is all of a sudden possible to do. No one can ever stop new butchering technology. The problem is ---- why do we do these evil things?

Since Vietnam, I have been trying to atone for all those little dead Vietnamese schoolgirls ---- the ones who never grew up, remember? Our unlawful aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan are also shameful war crimes. There is no honor in our attacks on poor Third World countries for corporate profit.

My plan is for all the volunteer mercenary soldiers we have hired, on the cheap, too ---- if they all somehow decided they wouldn't kill for oil money, maybe our politicians would get the message. America would get the message. Power does not make right.

Eric Parish

Vista 

12/1/11

Feels sorry for our descendants

I drove past that new half-billion-dollar hospital rising up from Camp Pendleton this Thanksgiving while visiting relatives. I assume it will see lots of use in the coming decades, what with a continuous input of newly injured from the occupied Middle East oil fields. I guess we can all give thanks for being the last generation to have access to cheap oil. From now on, we will be measuring its cost in blood.

It is a fact that the U.S. imports two-thirds of its oil. No amount of "drill, baby, drill" is going to change that much. The easiest oil to get is under all that sand where all our soldiers are. Or next door in Iran. Just in case we can't get our hands on that, the oil industry wants to go after oil shales in Canada and the upper Midwest. This is some of the hardest and most expensive oil to get. It makes a real mess extracting it, too. Turning it all into carbon dioxide will make a bigger mess.

I feel sorry for our descendants. I hope they haven't already killed themselves, fighting over the last dregs of the oil era. But hey ---- that's the future.

Eric Parish

Vista

December 16, 2011

Religion-based gay-bashing

The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, says on a TV commercial that President Obama is conducting a "war on religion" because of the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Perry is still in favor of keeping gays out of the military, even though it has been repealed for awhile now, and last I heard, American military barracks worldwide have not turned into gay bathhouses ---- yet.

According to Rick Perry, Jesus is flat-out against homosexuals and this whole "gay agenda" stuff. I am not sure whether Mitt Romney's Mormon Jesus also hates the sin but loves the sinner, as Christians like to sermonize. Just as I have trouble explaining to my kids why America used to have segregated swimming pools and whites-only water fountains, my kids will have trouble explaining to their progeny where we got today's hateful prejudice toward gay people.

Our world could use a lot less religion-based gay-bashing. We should all remember Saint Pollyanna and the 800-plus "glad texts" to be found in Holy Scripture. God bless America.

Eric Parish

Vista

12/30/11

Cross a fitting symbol of death

One of the sadder controversies I have read about lately is this ruckus about a Christian cross up in the hills of Camp Pendleton. This symbol of torture and death seems to me to be perfectly at home in the hills above a true training ground for American death in action. I can hear the sounds of explosive death and/or freedom from my home. The more crosses, the merrier.

American conservative-style Christianity has come a long way since a simple carpenter preached love for the poorest and least among us. God speaks to the Huckabees, Santorums, Bachmanns and Palins in hard, cold black-and-white whispers these days. He speaks of unending fear and war. America is surrounded by enemies who want our freedoms. Go forth and defend. And you get to keep any oil you find. What better way to top off all this smug, self-righteous greed than with a nice big wooden cross on a hill in Camp Pendleton. God bless America. And Happy New Year.

Eric Parish

Vista

Jan 4

More liberal junk

Re: "Cross a fitting symbol of death," by Eric Parish, Dec. 30: Leave it to Mr. Parish to try and get a last dig in before New Year's, banging on the military again. As usual, he does not back up his statement ("Go forth and defend. And you get to keep any oil you find").

I would direct his attention to the article, "In a first, gas and other fuels are top U.S. export," Dec. 31. So this very deceiving notion that our military is used to plunder other countries' natural resources, spread by liberals, is a blatant lie. I would also remind Mr. Parish that it's his government that tells the military where to go and fight. If he doesn't like his government's policy, he might consider moving to a country whose government he agrees with.

Charles Seago

Vista