Lacking in history

In her latest tirade (May 18, 2008), June Forsythe Kenagy somehow connects Mother’s Day to her hatred of Israel.

This letter illustrates not only her woeful lack of knowledge about the history of Israel, but, as are most of her letters, this one is an example of her incessant incitement to hatred and discrimination.

Clara Frost, Albany

We should learn more

In Sunday’s paper a reader comments: “I can’t admire Israel’s creation, which was nothing more than the brutal theft of another people’s homeland.” Unfortunately, general knowledge of history is so poor that there are many people who actually believe this.

The newspaper should print an unbiased history of Israel to help correct this knowledge gap and answer some important questions. For example, in the Bible, Jerusalem was the capital of Judea, homeland of the Jews. How, when and why did the name change to Palestine? In 1947, the U.N. voted to create the state of Israel in the British Mandate (colony) of Palestine.

Why didn’t the U.N. vote to partition the colony into a Jewish and an Arab state? And since Jerusalem is important to three major religions, why didn’t the U.N. vote to make Jerusalem an international city, independent of any Jewish, Christian or Muslim state?

How did things end up the way they are now? The answers to these questions are very well documented, and yet most people couldn’t accurately answer any of them.

Dave Rabinowitz, Corvallis

Facts about Israel

A number of recent letters to the Gazette-Times have presented a one-sided and, in some cases, false picture of Israel. Please consider the following facts:

All Israeli citizens enjoy freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the right to vote. The Israeli government pays for the upkeep of holy sites for all religions, including Muslim sites and Christian sites.

Israel is the only Middle East nation with a free press.

Minority rights in Israel are guaranteed. Israeli Arabs generally enjoy the same political and legal rights as Jewish citizens of Israel. Arabs have been elected to every Israeli parliament since Israel’s founding and currently comprise 10 percent of Parliament.

Ten women have served as cabinet ministers, including a Prime Minister. Seventeen members of Parliament and 34 percent of judges in Israel are women.

Israel invests $250 million annually to advance solar technology and reduce global dependency on oil. It actively promotes a nationwide electric car network with zero-emission vehicles.

Israel exports its medical, human and technological resources for humanitarian purposes worldwide. Israeli physicians train medical professionals from more than 100 countries, and extends humanitarian aid assistance to more than 140 nations.

All Israeli citizens are covered by health insurance and many major hospitals in Israel regularly treat Palestinians alongside Israelis. .

Israel provides medical services for children in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority and elsewhere in the Arab world. Hundreds of Palestinian children have been examined free of charge by Israeli doctors.

Most of all, Israel wants peace. Though surrounded by enemies who want Israel “wiped off the map” — especially Iran and its proxies Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad — Israel is still working towards a solution in which both Israelis and Palestinians will live side by side in peace.

Rachel Peck, Corvallis

Ah, those vile profits!

During their swing through Oregon, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton committed to hanging a kitty bell on obscene profits. So I fired up my Pavilion in search of a few facts. I was stunned by the results. ConocoPhillips raked in 6 cents of profit on every dollar of revenue in 2007, according to Google Finance. Chevron seized 8 cents. And gluttony is apparently not unique to big oil. HP and Lee Enterprises each filched 7 cents.

Clearly corporate America is guilty of excessive profit taking. We all know these parasites are notorious for devouring honest toil, crushing creativity, polluting the environment, and recklessly abusing their power over us. Their products and services provide virtually all of the necessities and comforts of life. This must change and government interference is the best solution.

In January 2009, our next president should create the Ministry of Excessive Profits with offices in every city and town. The sole duty of this watchdog will be to seize unreasonable earnings. The “obscene” portion will be dumped into a trough to pay for our health care, retirement, housing, transportation, entertainment and food.

And when summoned to explain their greed to the Ministry, the corporate vermin shouldn’t be surprised by the accompanying notice: You may want to pack a suitcase and consult with counsel before coming to our office. As novelist George Eliot wrote, consequences are unpitying.

Gordon L. Shadle, Albany

Blame Congress for gas

The approval rate of this Democrat-controlled Congress has reached an all-time low. It’s much lower than President Bush’s approval rating. I also just read that carbon dioxide release has increased since 2007. What do these facts have in common?

Our congressmen and women are now grilling oil company execs about why the price of oil is so high. These very congressmen are the same group that voted not to let any new oil drilling take place in the country; even though it is now a safe technology.

We also now provide pre-fab nuclear power plants to other countries but cannot use them here. We can build coal and natural gas power plants, though, but guess what? That is why green house gases are on the rise, because that is what spews out of these power plants.

It is time to get a group of people in Congress that care about the American people and not a bunch of environmental extremists. These are the people that you can thank for $4 gasoline — soon to be $5 gasoline — and right now there is no end in sight.

Pat Burrell, Alsea

Punish ID thieves

In regards to the front page article in the Sunday paper on ID theft:

It shows our politicians’ appalling disregard for the safety of Oregon citizens and the lack of understanding of their jobs which is “to insure domestic tranquility”!

We need laws to keep criminals out of society. There are thieves, rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers when caught, and if ever convicted, get an arbitrary amount of time behind bars and then are turned loose on society to repeat crimes until caught again.

The reasoning is that it costs too much to keep people incarcerated. They never factor in costs of repeated crimes, like insurance, repurchasing items, police and court costs and furnishing them a lawyer. Also, there are intangible costs like fear, suffering and trauma from being a victim.

If our politicians are not going to pass strong laws to protect us, they should stay home. If they don’t know how, I would be happy to help them draft legislation. So contact me.

Verdie Frazier, Foster

God and natural laws

In a May 18 letter, Dan McMinds points out what a hypothesis is and dives into America’s lack of scientific know-how. Dan has hit the nail on the head, I couldn’t of said it better, so instead I’ll just add to what Mr. McMinds said.

Religion doesn’t have to be a roadblock for science, Kenneth R. Miller in is a well known biologist and has written several textbooks for high school biology classes and strongly fights against creation and intelligent design in science classrooms.

Dr. Miller is also a Roman Catholic, he believes in God, he believes in Jesus, but doesn’t allow his beliefs to block his scientific research and reasoning. He’s what’s called a “theistic evolutionist,” meaning that he thinks that God uses natural laws to make his creations.

Gregory Ranzoni, Albany