Those emotional ‘forward this’ e-mails could be scams

You may have seen them. The e-mails. “Forward this on to 20 people you know and great fortune will befall you.” Or, “forward this on to 10 of your friends to avoid bad luck.” These e-mails are always relating to those things we find dear; Religion, finances, family, fame, good luck, etc.

There is a theory initiated in 1929, and explored in more recent years, including the book “Six Degrees of Separation,” author John Guare 1990, and the same titled movie from 1993 , that all of us are interconnected through a limited number of acquaintances. In other words, if I were to send an e-mail to say, 20 of my closest friends, I would, in theory, receive the same e-mail back from someone else. Have you ever received the same e-mail more than once from a different source? That’s the catch.

Most people simply forward these on without deleting the long e-mail string below. These e-mails are a scam. The initiator ends up receiving his/her own e-mail back — but with a difference. They now have a long list of undeleted e-mail addresses that they can filter and collect, either for personal use or for sale. These numerous e-mails have a value to the unscrupulous.

My advice? If you really care about your friends, you’ll send the above message along to them. But be sure and delete any long e-mail strings that might collect below before you do.

Steve Dockins, Philomath

Bush has little reason to be proud of his terms in office

I think President Bush could have accomplished more during his term in office. I’m glad to see that Sen. Barack Obama might get elected because I believe that he points to a new horizon.

I’m glad Bush didn’t pass any new gun laws. Heaven knows, we may have to protect our own backyard some day. (Shades of Charles Heston.)

We may have to start a new shuttle system of sorts to get people back and forth to work because of high gasoline prices.

I feel that this Iraq war has cost us a lot of money. I hope this doesn’t make too much of a reduction in our Social Security checks.

I’ve given up on health care because the rich are always screwing over the poor and somehow they always seem to have the best hand in this deck of cards.

During the past week, I’ve given two $5 bills away to homeless men. One had a sign asking for help for his family. If Bush has attended to this problem in any way, I guess it passed me by.

I understand that President Bush has oil holdings in Texas. He must have increased his assets profoundly. I hope this extra profit helps him make it through to his retirement.

Laura Hales, Corvallis

Act to address issues of education, climate change

The theme of my recent letter was: Our culture cannot afford the luxury of our present educational system. The “carbon cost” is unaffordable, both economically and from the sustainability perspective. Several educators in our community have questioned my thinking.

First, I would urge those folks to read the Aug. 5 article, “One of three Oregon schools misses federal academic goals.” I quote: “New data suggests that just 61 percent of Oregon schools are meeting federal academic goals, down nearly 14 percent in a single year.” In plain English: Our schools are failing.

Second, we really have no choice in the matter. The present system is founded on cheap fossil fuels, huge energy-hogging buildings, 7 mpg buses, hordes of commuting teachers. And it is clear, in this transition post-peak-oil period, those fuels are more expensive and soon, by any measure, will be far more expensive than they are today. Fossil fuels are finite by definition; 6.75 billion people will compete for the remaining supplies.

Third, the American contributions to greenhouse-gas accumulations in our atmosphere must be reduced. The reductions must be meaningful, and they must happen now. Later ... when the Earth has warmed by 7 or 12 degrees ... will truly be too late.

We can react to current global reality as adolescents and wait until the warming becomes a crisis. Or we can act as adults: process the science, look carefully at our culture and make the hard choices that will enable our children and grandchildren to inhabit an Earth with a reasonable climate.

Kirk Nevin, Corvallis

Don’t let Olympic pomp obscure tragedy in Darfur

During this season of excitement and international unity due to the Olympic Games, let us not forget about the atrocities taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan.

In a campaign of violence similar to the one that claimed upwards of 800,000 lives 14 years ago in Rwanda, the Darfur genocide has displaced millions and killed 400,000. The purpose of this letter is not to point fingers of blame at certain governments or individuals, but to remind readers of their power to help end the violence.

As the world’s leading superpower, the United States possesses the ability to end the conflict by pressuring the Sudanese government to end its support of the violence and allow U.N. peace keepers to enter the country. It is up to the American people to convince their elected officials to support such action. Contact the offices of U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith today! (Oregon number for Wyden, 541-431-0229; for Smith, 503-326-3386.)

Let them know that Americans care about this issue and that you consider it an important election-year topic! Change will no doubt come if enough of us speak up. It is time for the American people to end their silence in an attempt to prevent history from repeating itself and to save thousands of lives. So please, make some noise for the people of Darfur. As Ellie Wiesel said, “Silence always encourages the tormentor and never the tormented.”

Alex Humphrey, Corvallis

Sen. Gordon Smith deserves support in re-election bid

I’m a Tom McCall Republican who won’t be voting for John McCain this fall but who will be voting to re-elect Sen. Gordon Smith. While I disagree with him on several issues, I agree with him on others and have been impressed with his willingness to risk political support to follow his conscience.

I recently wrote him a letter saying I thought gay federal workers should be able to purchase federal health insurance for their life-partners. He wrote back saying he was already a co-sponsor of just such legislation. I’ve since learned that he has received a lot of heated criticism from many Republicans on this issue. Both anti-war and pro-war people are angry with him for his stance on the Iraq War; the anti-war crowd for his initial support and the pro-war crowd for his change of heart. He probably lost votes overall but he did what he felt was right.

These are two examples of his integrity, making him an excellent senator for Oregon.

Nancy Mandel, Corvallis